Record

Authorised form of name	Gray; Sir; John Archibald Browne (1918 - 2011); physiologist; medical administrator
Dates	1918 - 2011
Nationality	British
Place of birth	34 Albert Road, Marylebone, London, England, United Kingdom
Date of birth	30 March 1918
Place of death	Kingsand, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom
Date of death	04 January 2011
Occupation	Physiologist
Research field	Neurophysiology
Research field	Physiology
Activity	Education: Preparatory schools at Selwyn House and Pembroke House; Cheltenham College (1931); Clare College, Cambridge (1936); University College Hospital MB BChir (1942) Career: Worked at the Medical Research Council (MRC)'s National Institute for Medical Research on a project to provide a sensitive test for acetylcholine, a recently discovered neurotransmitter (1939); researched conditions faced by military personnel in battle conditions at the MRC's Armoured Fighting Vehicle Training School (1943); worked for a short time at the National Institute for Medical Research; surgeon-lieutenant in the Royal Navy (1939-1945); returned to the National Institute for Medical Research to work on neurophysiology (1946-1952); head of the department of physiology, University College London (1949); then reader (1952); then Professor (1960-1966); Secretary of the Medical Research Council (1968-1977); retired (1983). Honours: Kt 1973 Memberships: Marine Biological Association
Membership category	Fellow
Date of election	16/03/1972
Age at election	53
Proposer	Ian Robert Young
	Geoffrey Wingfield Harris
	William Drummond MacDonald Paton
	Archibald Vivian Hill
	David Whitteridge
	Charles Garrett Phillips
	Bryan Harold Cabot Matthews
Relationships	Parents: Sir Archibald Montague Henry Gray (1880–1967), dermatologist, and Elsie, née Cooper (1881–1971), a solicitor's daughter from Staffordshire and a matron at St George's Hospital prior to marriage. Spouse: (m. 17 April 1946) Vera Kathleen Mares (1919–2010), daughter of Charles Anthony Mares, an artists' brush manufacturer. Children: Clare (b. 1948) and Peter (b. 1951).
OtherInfo	Distinguished for his study of the initiation of sensory nerve impulses, in particular in mechanical receptor structures. ne of the first to demonstrate the existence of local electric "transducer" potentials arising at sensory nerve endings during mechanical stimulation and has done important work to elucidate the mechanism and microscopic localization of their origin. This work has set an example in the analysis of sensory receptors and has served as an important stimulus to other investigations in this country and overseas.
Source	DNB
Code	NA4832

Archives associated with this Fellow

RefNo	Title	Date
GLB/49/4/4	Brown to J A B Gray, Medical Research Council	3 May 1968
GLB/49/4/17	J A B Gray, Medical Research Council to Brown	12 March 1970
GLB/65/38	J A B Gray	October 1960 - December 1968
GLB/49/4/13	Brown to J A B Gray, Medical Research Council	26 September 1968
GLB/65/100/115	Brown to J A B Gray, Medical Research Council	6 November 1968
HWT/39/32	Great Britain-China Committee (later Great Britain-China Centre)	July 1973
RR/72/138	Letter from Archibald Vivian Hill, on a paper 'The initiation of nerve impulses by mesenteric Pacinian corpuscles' by John Archibald Browne Gray and J L Malcolm to D C Martin, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	8 August 1949
RR/72/137	Referee's report by Archibald Vivian Hill, on a paper 'The initiation of nerve impulses by mesenteric Pacinian corpuscles' by John Archibald Browne Gray and J L Malcolm	1949
GLB/49/4/12	J A B Gray, Medical Research Council to Brown	19 February 1969
GLB/49/4/14	J A B Gray, Medical Research Council to Brown	30 September 1968
GLB/49/4/3	J A B Gray, Medical Research Council to Brown	24 April 1968
IM/GA/RGRS/7986	Gray, Sir John Archibald Browne	1977
EC/1972/16	Gray, John Archibald Browne: certificate of election to the Royal Society

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