John Newport Langley

He was born in Newbury, Berkshire the son of John Langley, the local schoolmaster, and his wife, Mary Groom. He was educated at Exeter Grammar School in Devon. In 1871 he won a place at St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA before continuing multiple postgraduate studies, gaining several doctorates.

He spent his entire career at Cambridge University, beginning as a Demonstrator in lectures in 1875. He began lecturing in Physiology in 1884 and was awarded a professorship in 1903, succeeding Professor Michael Foster.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pdn.cam.ac.uk/about-us/history/centenary/john-langley|author=University of Cambridge Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience |title = John Langley|date = 15 April 2016}}

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1883 and later its vice-president. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1916.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=10 March 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Langley is known as one of the fathers of the chemical receptor theory, and as the origin of the concept of "receptive substance".{{cite journal|author=Langley J.N. |year=1905|title= On the reaction of cells and of nerve-endings to certain poisons, chiefly as regards the reaction of striated muscle to nicotine and to curari|pmc=1465797|journal= J Physiol|volume= 33|pages= 374–413|pmid=16992819|issue=4–5|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1905.sp001128}}{{cite journal|author=Maehle A.-H. |year=2004|title="Receptive Substances": John Newport Langley (1852–1925) and his Path to a Receptor Theory of Drug Action|journal= Med Hist|volume= 48|pages= 153–174|pmc=546337|doi=10.1017/s0025727300000090|pmid=15151102|issue=2}}

In 1901, he advanced research in neurotransmitters and chemical receptors, working with extracts from adrenal glands. These extracts elicited responses in tissues that were similar to those induced by nerve stimulation.{{cite journal|pmid=18160700|title=A Brief History of Great Discoveries in Pharmacology: In Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the Founding of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics|journal=Pharmacological Reviews|last=Rubin| first=Ronald P.|date= December 2007|issue=4| volume= 59|pages=289–359|doi=10.1124/pr.107.70102|s2cid=33152970}}

He coined the term "autonomic nervous system" (ANS) in 1898.{{Cite book |title=The Autonomic Nervous System |publisher=Cambridge : W. Heffer & Sons, Ltd. |year=1921 |pages=6}}

He was the first person who put forward the concept of parasympathetic nervous system as a division of the ANS in 1921.{{Citation |last=Johnson |first=Joel O. |title=Pharmacology and Physiology for Anesthesia |date=2013 |pages=208–217 |chapter=Autonomic Nervous System Physiology |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-1-4377-1679-5.00012-0 |isbn=978-1-4377-1679-5}}

He died in Cambridge on 5 November 1925, aged 73.

• The Autonomic Nervous System (1921)
• Elementary Experimental Physiology

A brass plaque to Langley's memory exists in Trinity College Chapel at Cambridge University.{{cite web |url=http://trinitycollegechapel.com/about/memorials/brasses/langley/ |title = Trinity College Chapel - John Newport Langley}}

Langley married at St. Mary′s church, Montrose, on 10 September 1902 Vera Kathleen Forsythe-Grant (d.1932), third daughter of Frederick Grant Forsyth-Grant, of Ecclesgreig, Kincardineshire.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Marriages |date=13 September 1902 |page=1 |issue=36872| }}

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{{Commons category|John Newport Langley}}

{{Wikisource author}}

• Katz, B. (1986). "Archibald Vivian Hill", Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p. 406

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Category:1852 births

Category:1925 deaths

Category:Royal Medal winners

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:British physiologists

Category:People from Newbury, Berkshire

Category:Professors of Physiology (Cambridge)

Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge

Category:The Journal of Physiology editors

Category:Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala