American Physiological Society

ABOUT APS Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on the biological function of living organisms. Today, physiology could not be more important. In fact, physiology is essential to answering virtually every critical question facing us in our understanding of life, health and disease. HISTORY In 1887, twenty-eight doctors and scientists founded the American Physiological Society to promote the advancement of physiology and facilitate interaction among American physiologists. At the time, only a handful of physiological laboratories existed in the U.S. and few investigators. The organizational meeting of the Society was held on December 30, 1887, at Columbia University with seventeen people in attendance. Of the twenty-eight charter members, five men are considered the founders of the Society. Three of them, Henry Pickering Bowditch, S. Weir Mitchell, and Henry Newell Martin, were signers of the original letter of invitation to attend the organizational meeting. Two others, Russell H. Chittenden and John Green Curtis, played such prominent roles in the founding and early history of the Society that they too have been honored as founders.