GUYTON, Arthur C(lifton) 1919-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born September 8, 1919, in Oxford, MS; died in a car accident April 3, 2003, near Jackson, MS. Physician, educator, and author. Guyton did groundbreaking work in the area of hypertension and his first textbook has become a standard in medical schools. After earning his bachelor's degree from the University of Mississippi in 1939 and his medical degree from Harvard University in 1943, Guyton contracted polio in 1946 and suffered from paralysis in his left upper arm and shoulder and in his right leg. Nevertheless, he managed to enjoy a successful academic career and gained some fame as the father of ten Harvard graduates. He began his teaching career at the University of Tennessee in 1947, but spent the rest of his years as a professor at the University of Mississippi. Beginning as an associate professor of pharmacology there from 1947 to 1948, he served as professor and chairman of the department of physiology and biophysics from 1948 to 1989, when he was made professor emeritus. Guyton's first book, Textbook of Medical Physiology (1956), was written by him for his students because other textbooks available at the time did not suit his course. The book is notable as one of the few medical texts still in use—the tenth edition was published in 2000—that was written by a single author. But Guyton was also highly respected for his studies in hypertension, and he is credited with discovering that it is the kidneys, and not the heart, that is primarily responsible for regulating blood pressure in the body; he also showed that heart rate is determined not so much by the heart but by how the body senses how much oxygen is needed in its body tissues. Over the course of his career, he wrote, co-wrote, or edited over a dozen books, including Circulatory Physiology: Cardiac Output and Its Regulation (1963; second edition, 1984), Arterial Pressure and Hypertension (1980), and the second edition of Basic Neuroscience: Anatomy and Physiology (1991).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2003, p. B13.

New York Times, April 14, 2003, p. A21.

Washington Post, April 7, 2003, p. B6.