Annual Herbert H. Reynolds Lecturer to Examine 'Benjamin Franklin and Medical Electricity' Nov. 6

by Devany Severin, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805

Dr. Stanley Finger, world leader in the history of neuroscience, will speak on "Benjamin Franklin and Medical Electricity" for the annual Herbert H. Reynolds Lecture Series at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 6, at Kayser Auditorium in Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by eight different Baylor departments.

Dr. Finger will discuss Benjamin Franklin's experiments on medical electricity in the middle of the 18th century. "Dr. Finger's scholarship is richly textured in terms of both the internal development of technical ideas in neuroscience and the greater social factors that have an impact on their development," said Dr. James A. Marcum, professor of philosophy at Baylor.

Finger is a professor of psychology at Washington University in St. Louis Mo., and the senior editor of the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences.

At Washington University, Finger is associated with two programs: neural sciences and philosophy, neuroscience and psychology. He has written more than 155 articles and has authored or edited nine books, with two more in progress. Some of his recent books include Minds Behind the Brain, Trepanation and Doctor Franklin's Medicine.

His articles deal with the history of science and medicine and have covered a wide range of topics, including the science behind Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the man who recognized the first ancient trepanned skull, the early history of phantom limbs, and the discovery of cerebral dominance.

The Reynolds Lectureship was established in 1998 by a gift to the department of philosophy from the Herbert H. and Joy C. Reynolds Endowment Fund for University Excellence. The series brings to campus an internationally recognized scholar in the sciences or in the philosophy or history of science.

For more information please contact the department of philosophy at (254) 710-3368.