David Ferrier

Sir David Ferrier was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist, born in Woodside, Aberdeen, on 13 January 1843, the sixth child of David and Hannah Ferrier. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School before studying for an MA at Aberdeen University, graduating in Classics in 1863, and then studied psychophysiology in Germany and medicine at Edinburgh, where he graduated in medicine in 1868 with a thesis that won a gold medal. As a medical student he worked as a scientific assistant to the philosopher and psychologist Alexander Bain. Ferrier conducted experiments on the brains of animals such as monkeys and in 1881 became the first scientist to be prosecuted under the Cruelty to Animals Act of 1876. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in June 1876 at the age of 33 and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians the following year, and the Royal Society created the Ferrier Medal and lectureship in his honour.