Biography
Adolf Meyer was born in Niederweningen, Switzerland. He received his medical degree from the University of Zurich in 1892. Coming to the United States in 1892, Meyer held positions at the University of Chicago, Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane, Worcester Insane Hospital, Clark University, Pathological Institute of New York State Hospitals, and Cornell University before his appointment as professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1908. He was named psychiatrist-in-chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1909. At Johns Hopkins, Meyer directed the development of the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, which opened in 1913. In designing the program for this clinic, Meyer integrated functions of teaching, research, and patient care. At the Phipps Clinic, Meyer trained two generations of psychiatrists, elevated modes of diagnosis and treatment, and conducted extensive research in neuroanatomy, neuropathology, and psychiatry. His major contributions include propounding the doctrine of psychobiology, standardizing case histories, reforming state insane asylums, and co-founding the mental hygiene movement.
Chief Dates
1866
Born on 13 September at Niederweningen, near Zurich, Switzerland
1884
Graduated from the gymnasium
1890
Passed Staatsexamen
1890-1891
Wanderjahr - nine months studying at Paris, Edinburgh and London
1892
Graduated M.D. from the University of Zurich
Emigrated to the United States
1893
Appointed Honorary Fellow and Docent in Neurology, University of Chicago
Appointed Pathologist, Eastern Hospital for the Insane, Kankakee, Illinois
1895
Appointed Pathologist, Worcester State Hospital for the Insane, Worcester, Massachusetts
Appointed Docent in Psychiatry, Clark University
1901
Awarded honorary degree, Glasgow University
1902
Began duties 1 May as Director of the Pathological Institute of the New York State Hospitals
Married 15 September Mary Potter Brooks, of Newburgh, New York
1904
Appointed Professor of Psychiatry, Cornell Medical College
1908
Accepted appointment in June as Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, The Johns Hopkins Medical School; moved to Baltimore in 1910
1909
Awarded honorary degree, Clark University
1913
Opening 16 April of the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic
1916
Birth on 14 February of daughter, Julia Lathrop Meyer
1932
Delivered the first Salmon Memorial Lectures to the New York Academy of Medicine
1933
Delivered the fourtheens Maudsley Lecture to the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, London
Guest lecturer, Academy of neurology and Psychiatry, Kharkov, Russia
1934
Awarded honorary degree, Yale University
1937
Celebration of 70th birthday and 24th anniversary of the Phipps Clinic
1938
Celebration of 25th anniversary of the Phipps Clinic
1941
Retired from Johns Hopkins; appointed professor emeritus
1942
Awarded honorary degree, Harvard University
1950
Died 17 March at his home in Baltimore