Ross A. McFarland Papers

When Ross McFarland filled out his application for a Kent Fellowship to the Harvard University graduate school in 1923 he wrote, "I am a poor follower and I would rather lead, for that has always been my nature." His capability as a follower could be open to some question, but there is no doubt about the quality of his leadership. He was one of Aerospace Medicine's most distinguished scientists, and a pioneer in the field of human factors engineering. He was a scholar, author, and educator, but perhaps best known for his research.

Ross Armstrong McFarland was born on July 18, 1901 in Denver, Colorado. His father, James McFarland, was a Presbyterian minister who established churches in such Colorado cities as Durango, Leadville, Idaho Springs, Central City, and Denver. Ross was five years old when his father died and he was the youngest of five children his mother was left to care for. Helen Russell McFarland moved the family to Parkville, Missouri, where they could attend Presbyterian schools without charge. Ross graduated from Park Academy, and then attended Park College for two years. Moving on to the University of Michigan for his junior and senior years, he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1923. At Michigan he was self-supporting and still managed to join a social fraternity, be a member of the debate team, and to sing in the varsity glee club.

The National Council on Religion in Higher Education awarded McFarland a Kent Fellowship to attend Harvard University graduate school, where his studies culminated in the Ph.D. in Psychology in 1928. The National Council on Religion in Higher Education had been founded at Yale in 1923 by Charles Foster Kent to develop teachers of religion and related subjects for colleges and universities in the United States. Ross McFarland played an active role in the Council, serving as field secretary at one time, and later as a member of the Board of Directors. Some of his most enduring friendships were formed through the Council, and he maintained an interest in the organization throughout his life. He took a year out from his Harvard studies to spend at Yale as a Kent Fellow.

At the end of graduate study at Harvard, he spent a year as a Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, working under Sir Joseph Barcroft and Professor F.C. Bartlett. During that time he was absorbed in the study of the effects on human behavior of changes in the internal environment. He carried out a series of experiments on the effects of lack of oxygen, using student pilots of the Royal Air Force as subjects. Data from his work in that period were later used in the study of fatigue, some mental illnesses, the aging process, and aviation accidents resulting from lack of oxygen.

Ross McFarland returned to the United States from England by way of the Far East. While in India he visited Mahatma Ghandi, then went on to Siam, China, and Japan. Travel was to be a vital part of his life and it would cover most of the world. In 1934 he would spend a month visiting scientific institutes in Moscow and Leningrad in the USSR, about which he published three articles. While in Soviet Russia he spent some time with his friend, Professor G.P. Wells and his father, author H.G. Wells.

Upon his return from Cambridge, McFarland joined Columbia University as instructor in the Department of Psychology. At Columbia from 1928 to 1937, he investigated the dependence of the central nervous system upon a normal supply of oxygen, glucose, and other constants. These studies, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, were basic to the development of pressurized cabins in commercial airliners.

In 1935 McFarland was invited to become a member of the International High Altitude Expedition to the Chilean Andes. He was one of ten scientists, chiefly physiologists and biochemists, studying the effects of high altitude on themselves in contrast to the natives who lived at high altitudes. Dr. McFarland gave sensory, motor, mental and personality tests to measure the psychological deterioration in relation to the physiological changes. With Dr. Christensen from Copenhagen he studied the effects of rapid ascents by airplane on trans-Andean flights between Santiago and Buenos Aires in contrast to more gradual ascent by railway. His interest in aviation first developed during this period.

The interests of Ross McFarland were far ranging, including international affairs. During the summer terms of 1930-1934 he lectured at the Geneva School of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. On week-ends he was able to enjoy mountain climbing in the French and Swiss Alps. He served on the Board of Directors of the Geneva School for a short period.

Dr. McFarland joined the Fatigue Laboratory of Harvard University in 1937, where he worked with physiologists L.J. Henderson, D.B. Dill, and W.H. Forbes. He studied a wide variety of conditions which impose stress on human performance.

Pan American Airways asked him in the summer of 1937 to study pilot fatigue during the initial flights of their air routes over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. As a result of his studies during these flights, sensory and mental tests were correlated for the first time with blood gasses and other biochemical determinants obtained during actual long flight. In 1940 he was advisor when Pan American opened air routes across Africa. Working as a consultant, he was medical coordinator of Pan American from 1936 to 1952.

In the summer of 1939 he began directing a study of physiological and psychological characteristics of 200 Pan American pilots at the Treasure Island Base. It was the most comprehensive investigation of the characteristics of successful pilots ever made. The purpose was to develop more reliable tests to use in the selection of aviators.

At Harvard he continued to investigate the problems of selection and training of pilots in the Boston area. This work was supported by the National Research Council and the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The U.S. Navy, having high failure rates among student pilots, asked Dr. McFarland to analyze the problem for them. A pool of 1,000 naval aviators was made available for study. To facilitate this work, he was commissioned a Lt. Commander and was on active duty at Pensacola from July to September, 1940. He organized a research team from Harvard to develop better tests for predicting success in naval aviator training. The result was the famed Pensacola Study of Naval Aviators. Upon completion of the program, Ross McFarland was released from active duty on April 25, 1941.

In 1943 and 1944 he was a civilian operations analyst with the 13th Air Force in the Solomon Island Campaign studying combat fatigue in air and ground forces. During these investigations he began studying the problems of the design of equipment to meet human capabilities. Additional studies in the field relating to more effective integration of men and machines led to his first book, Human Factors in Air Transport Design, published in 1946. It was one of the first textbooks on the subject, and he became a leader in developing this field as a new discipline. His second book, Human Factors in Air Transportation, published in 1953, aided in the development of health and safety standards in civil aviation. In 1966 McFarland co-authored, with Drs. Albert Damon and Howard W. Stoudt, The Human Body in Equipment Design.

In 1947 Ross McFarland became a member of the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health, where he conducted research of highway transport safety, industrial safety, and human factors in behavioral design. He also did studies of human vision and of the effects of alcohol on human performance.

Within the School of Public Health, he started a program in Aviation Health and Safety, which was considerable success. A highlight of that program was Dr. McFarland's seminar. The students in that group were known as 'The McFarland boys." Through their training in that program, more than 200 scientists became leaders in aerospace medicine occupational health, highway safety and epidemiological research. Ross McFarland was a highly respected and loved teacher.

The Guggenheim Foundation endowed a teaching and research center at Harvard in 1962. Ross McFarland became its first director and the first occupant of the Florence and Daniel Guggenheim Chair of Aerospace Health and Safety. When he retired in 1972 he was named Professor Emeritus.

McFarland, long a bachelor, was married in 1950 to Emily Frelinghuysen Bilkey, became stepfather to H. Edward and Laura Bilkey, and later played a rewarding role as grandfather.

Dr. McFarland published three major books, several chapters in other books, a number of monographs, and more than two hundred articles. He gave countless lectures to professional and scientific organizations. He was both member and officer of many professional and scientific organizations, including the Aerospace Medical Association, which he served as Vice-President from 1970-1971. He served as president of the Human Factors Society from 1969-1971. He was also made a Fellow of the American Public Health Association, of the Gerontological Society, of the New York Academy of Sciences, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and of the Royal Society of Health.

Ross McFarland received four honorary degrees. His numerous awards included the Longacre Award in Aviation Medicine in 1947, and the Exceptional Service Award of the U.S. Air Force for his "unique contribution during the period of 1937 through 1969 in Aerospace Health and Safety and related fields of human factors engineering."

He was a consultant to the Federal Aviation Administration, to NASA, to many corporations, and to other government agencies. He was Director of the Commission on Military Accidents of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board from 1950 to 1969. He was also a member of a number of task forces, as well as many committees and boards.

Ross McFarland died suddenly November 7, 1976 at his home in Dublin, New Hampshire; at the age of 75. At the dedication of the Ross McFarland room at Wright State University November 7, 1980, a wire from George Baker, former dean of the Harvard Business School said of him, "He was a great contributor to his times because he was so far ahead of them."

(Written by Roberta A. Ritchie, McFarland Collection Archivist)