Frank Fremont-Smith
Encyclopedia
Frank Fremont-Smith was an American administrator, executive with the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation
, president of British General Rees
's World Federation of Mental Health, known together with Lawrence K. Frank as motivators of the Macy conferences
, and as promotor for interdisciplinary conferences as platforms for advancing knowledge.
Fremont-Smith started working in the 1920s at the department of neuropathology at the Harvard Medical School
in Boston, Massachusetts. He was married to Frances Hopkinson Fremont-Smith, and the youngest of their three sons was Eliot Fremont-Smith (1929-2007) a former critic for the New York Times.
' prehistory, because of his involvement in the 1930s in an informal conversational network around neurophysiology and the work of Walter Cannon on homeostasis
.
A second initiative he organized in the 1940s was a meeting about "physiological mechanisms underlying the phenomena of conditioned reflexes and hypnosis as related to the problem of cerebral inhibition." This socalled "Cerebral Inhibition Meeting" was sponsored by the Josiah Macy Foundation attended by scientists like Gregory Bateson
, and Margaret Mead
, and five others. Together they would initiated the Cybernetics Group. Among its members this group was as called the "Man-Machine Project". Other participants were Warren McCulloch, Arturo Rosenblueth
, Gregory Bateson
, Margaret Mead
, and Lawrence K. Frank. According to Steinberg (2000) "Rosenblueth, a protégé of Norbert Wiener
, set out the broad parameters of the proposed effort.
Between 1946 and 1953 Fremont-Smith worked as Medical Director in the Macy Foundation, when ten Macy Conferences were a set of meetings of scholars from various disciplines held to discuss "Circular Causal and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems". It was one of the first organized studies of interdisciplinarity
, spawning breakthroughs in systems theory
and leading to the foundation of what later was to be known as cybernetics
. End 1950s he was among the first members of the Society for General Systems Research
.
In 1959 Frank Fremont-Smith, as head of the Macy foundation, was the organizer of the first ever held conferences on LSD
. When Fremont-Smith retired as the Foundation's Medical Director, he was encouraged to apply the concept of Interdisciplinary Communications Program (ICP) to the field of the biological sciences in general. He began the series Interdisciplinary Communications Program (1968-1976) at the Smithsonian Institution
.
About Frank Fremont-Smith
Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation
The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation is a philanthropic foundation founded in 1930 by Kate Macy Ladd in honor of her father Josiah W. Macy, Jr. The Foundation became internationally known for the support of the Macy conferences starting late 1940s : a series of interdisciplinary meetings of scientists...
, president of British General Rees
John Rawlings Rees
John Rawlings Rees OBE MD RAMC was a wartime and civilian psychiatrist and became a brigadier in the British Army. He was a member of the group of key figures at the original Tavistock Clinic and became its medical director from 1934...
's World Federation of Mental Health, known together with Lawrence K. Frank as motivators of the Macy conferences
Macy conferences
The Macy Conferences were a set of meetings of scholars from various disciplines held in New York by the initiative of Warren McCulloch and the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation from 1946 to 1953...
, and as promotor for interdisciplinary conferences as platforms for advancing knowledge.
Fremont-Smith started working in the 1920s at the department of neuropathology at the Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
in Boston, Massachusetts. He was married to Frances Hopkinson Fremont-Smith, and the youngest of their three sons was Eliot Fremont-Smith (1929-2007) a former critic for the New York Times.
Work
Fremont-Smith was familiar with what would become cyberneticsCybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
' prehistory, because of his involvement in the 1930s in an informal conversational network around neurophysiology and the work of Walter Cannon on homeostasis
Homeostasis
Homeostasis is the property of a system that regulates its internal environment and tends to maintain a stable, constant condition of properties like temperature or pH...
.
A second initiative he organized in the 1940s was a meeting about "physiological mechanisms underlying the phenomena of conditioned reflexes and hypnosis as related to the problem of cerebral inhibition." This socalled "Cerebral Inhibition Meeting" was sponsored by the Josiah Macy Foundation attended by scientists like Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
, and Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
, and five others. Together they would initiated the Cybernetics Group. Among its members this group was as called the "Man-Machine Project". Other participants were Warren McCulloch, Arturo Rosenblueth
Arturo Rosenblueth
Arturo Rosenblueth Stearns was a Mexican researcher, physician and physiologist, who is known as one of the pioneers of cybernetics.- Biography:...
, Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson
Gregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
, Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
, and Lawrence K. Frank. According to Steinberg (2000) "Rosenblueth, a protégé of Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
, set out the broad parameters of the proposed effort.
Between 1946 and 1953 Fremont-Smith worked as Medical Director in the Macy Foundation, when ten Macy Conferences were a set of meetings of scholars from various disciplines held to discuss "Circular Causal and Feedback Mechanisms in Biological and Social Systems". It was one of the first organized studies of interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity involves the combining of two or more academic fields into one single discipline. An interdisciplinary field crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged....
, spawning breakthroughs in systems theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
and leading to the foundation of what later was to be known as cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
. End 1950s he was among the first members of the Society for General Systems Research
Society for General Systems Research
The Society for General Systems Research is predecessor of the current International Society for the Systems Sciences , known to be one the first interdisciplinary and international co-operations in the field of systems theory and systems science...
.
In 1959 Frank Fremont-Smith, as head of the Macy foundation, was the organizer of the first ever held conferences on LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
. When Fremont-Smith retired as the Foundation's Medical Director, he was encouraged to apply the concept of Interdisciplinary Communications Program (ICP) to the field of the biological sciences in general. He began the series Interdisciplinary Communications Program (1968-1976) at the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
.
Publications
Articles by Frank Fremont-Smith:- 1932, "The Nature of the Reducing Substances in the Blood Serum of Limulus Polyphemus and in the Serum, Cerebrospinal Fluid and Aqueous Humor of Certain Elasmobranchs", with Mary Elizabeth Dailey in: Biological Bulletin, Vol. 62, No. 1 (Feb., 1932), pp. 37-41
- 1953, "Rights and responsibilities." in: N C Med J. 1953 Sep ;14 (9):405-8
- 1958, "The mental health aspects of the peaceful use of atomic energy", in: Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1958 Jul ;28 (3):456-66
- 1960, "World mental health year". in: Hosp Prog. 1960 Feb ;41 :46-8
- 1961, "Communication across scientific disciplines", in: J Child Asthma Res Inst Hosp Denver. 1961 Mar ;1 :4-14.
- 1961, "The Interdisciplinary Conference". in: AIBS Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr., 1961), pp. 17-32.
- 1963, "The Interdisciplinary Conference". in: J Asthma Res. 1963 Sep ;65 :3-10
- 1964, "Medical care, education and research. The role of foundations in mediacal research". in: N Engl J Med. 1964 Dec 24;271 :1348-51
- 1965, "Small Conferences", in: Science. 1965 Jun 25;148 (3678):1669-1670
- 1969, "The neurological justification for the use of interruption in communication." in: Trans Am Neurol Assoc. 1969 ;94 :160-4.
- 1971, "The neurological justification for the use of interruption in communication.", In: Perspect Biol Med. ;14 (2):333-8
About Frank Fremont-Smith
- 1937, "The cerebrospinal fluid" by Drs. Merrit and Fremont-Smith", in: Science, Friday nov 5 1937.
- 1948, Lander, J. "New Opportunities for the Improvement of Mental Hospitals:Frank Fremont-Smith. Mental Hygiene XXXI, 1947". in: Psychoanal Q., 17:567. pp. 354–362.
- 1974, Harry C. Meserve. "Frank Fremont-Smith: 1895–1974" in: Journal Journal of Religion and Health, Issue Volume 13, Number 2 / April, 1974 DOI 10.1007/BF01532748, pages ii-iii.