Cushing, Harvey (1869-1939), an American physician and surgeon, was one of the world’s greatest brain surgeons. He won fame for his achievements in neurosurgery and for experimental work on the brain, nervous system, and pituitary gland. As a result of Cushing’s work, neurological surgery became a respected medical subspecialty.
Cushing was born on April 8, 1869, in Cleveland. He attended Yale College and Harvard Medical School before joining the surgical staff of Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1896. In 1912, he returned to Harvard as a professor of surgery. In 1926, Cushing won a Pulitzer Prize in biography for The Life of Sir William Osler (1925), the life story of his friend and fellow physician. Cushing died on Oct. 7, 1939.
