Geoffrey W. Harris †, 1913–1971

Geoffrey Wingfield Harris, 1913-1971.

The posterior pituitary, from Geoffrey Harris to our present understanding

Geoffrey Harris pioneered our understanding of the posterior pituitary, mainly with experiments that involved the electrical stimulation of the supraoptico-hypophysial tract. In the present essay, we explain how his observations included clues to the pulsatile nature of the oxytocin signal – clues that were followed up by subsequent workers, including his students and their students. These stud...

60 YEARS OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY: MEMOIR: Geoffrey Harris and my brush with his unit.

Geoffrey Harris is chiefly known for his demonstration of the control of the pituitary gland by the portal vessels coming from the hypothalamus. This does not do justice to his extraordinary contribution to biology. Harris' life's work was central in demonstrating the brain/body interactions by which animals and humans adapt to their environment, and above all the control of that most crucial a...

60 YEARS OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY: The structure of the neuroendocrine hypothalamus: the neuroanatomical legacy of Geoffrey Harris.

In November 1955, Geoffrey Harris published a paper based on the Christian A Herter Lecture he had given earlier that year at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, USA. The paper reviewed the contemporary research that was starting to explain how the hypothalamus controlled the pituitary gland. In the process of doing so, Harris introduced a set of properties that helped define the neuroen...

60 YEARS OF NEUROENDOCRINOLOGY: The posterior pituitary, from Geoffrey Harris to our present understanding.

Geoffrey Harris pioneered our understanding of the posterior pituitary, mainly with experiments that involved the electrical stimulation of the supraoptico-hypophysial tract. In the present essay, we explain how his observations included clues to the pulsatile nature of the oxytocin signal - clues that were followed up by subsequent workers, including his students and their students. These stud...