Mary Brazier facts for kids

Mary "Mollie" Agnes Burnston Brown Brazier (born May 18, 1904 – died May 14, 1995) was a very important brain scientist. She worked at famous places like Harvard Medical School and UCLA. She helped us understand how our brains work.

About Mary Brazier

Mary Brazier was born in Weston-super-Mare, England, in 1904. She grew up in a Quaker family. She went to the Sidcot School. Later, she earned a science degree from Bedford College at the University of London.

In 1930, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of London. Her studies focused on how the body works (physiology) and the chemicals in living things (biochemistry). She started her brain research at Maudsley Hospital in London.

In 1940, Mary moved to Boston, USA. She received a special scholarship called a Rockefeller Fellowship. For 20 years, she worked at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1961, she moved to the Brain Research Institute at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She stayed there until she retired.

Mary Brazier was known around the world. She was a great brain scientist, a historian, an author, and an editor.

Her Work with Brain Waves

Mary Brazier made many important discoveries about brain waves. She studied how brain waves change when someone is under anesthesia. Brain waves are measured using a method called EEG. An EEG records the electrical activity of the brain.

She was one of the first scientists to use computers to study EEG signals. This helped researchers understand brain activity better. She also wrote about the history of science.

Starting in 1948, Mary Brazier worked with Norbert Wiener. He was a famous mathematician. They used his ideas about processing "noise" (unwanted signals) to analyze EEG recordings. In 1952, she published her work on special computer analyses called autocorrelation and cross-correlation. She wrote this with James Casby, a student in her lab. In 1953, Brazier and Wiener shared their findings at a big EEG conference.

Helping Brain Research Worldwide

In the 1950s, Mary Brazier helped create the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). This group helps brain scientists work together globally. She worked with other scientists like Herbert Jasper and Henri Gastaut to make it happen. She even got support from UNESCO, a part of the United Nations.

Mary Brazier was the sixth Secretary General of IBRO. She was also the first woman to hold this important role. She served from 1978 to 1983.

She was also the main editor for a major science journal. It was called Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology. She held this job from 1974 to 1984.

Mary Brazier wrote almost 250 articles and books. Her research papers are kept at the UCLA Special Collections library.

Her Family

Mary Brazier's older brother became a physicist. Her father was a cousin of Sir Arthur Eddington. He was a famous English astrophysicist. In 1919, Eddington's observations of a solar eclipse helped prove one of Albert Einstein's ideas. This idea was part of his General relativity theory.

In 1928, Mary married Leslie J. Brazier, who was an electrical engineer. They had a son named Oliver in 1935. In 1940, Mary moved to Boston with her son. Her husband Leslie stayed in England.

Selected Books and Articles

• "Bibliography of electoencephalography, 1875 – 1948." EEG and Clinical Neurophysiolohy (1950). Supplement 1: 1–178.
• "Neural nets and integration." In Richter, K. (ed.)m Perspectives in Neuropsychiatry (1950). London, UK: HK Lewis. pp. 35–45.
• The Electrical Activity of the Nervous System. London, UK: Pitman. 1951.
• "Some uses of computers in experimental neurology." Experimental Neurology (1960). 2: 123–143.
• A History of Neurophysiology in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: From Concept to Experiment. New York: Raven, 1984.
• A History of Neurophysiology in the Nineteenth Century. New York, Raven, 1988.

Awards and Recognition

Mary Brazier received many honors and awards for her work:

• She won the Gold Medal from the British Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1934.
• She received the Van Meter Prize in 1934. This was from the American Association for the Study of Goiter.
• In 1956, she was chosen as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• She received a Career Research Award in 1962 from the Neurology Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Only four people received this special award.
• She was given the Grey Walter Medal from the British EEG Society in 1984.

After she passed away, an award was named in her honor. It was called the M.A.B. Brazier Young Investigator International Award. Today, it is known as the Mary Brazier Young Investigator Paper Award. This award recognizes young scientists who do great work.