Ross A McFarland
Dr. Ross A. McFarland, 75, Dies; Was Transportation Safety Expert
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Nov. 9, 1976
Credit...The New York Times Archives
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November 9, 1976, Page 38
Dr. Ross A. McFarland, an expert and author on health and safety problems in transportation and industry, died Sunday at his home in Dublin, N.H. He was 75 years old.
Dr. McFarland, who was the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim professor emeritus of aerospace health and safety at Harvard, was educated at the University of Michigan and Harvard, where he earned his doctorate in 1928, and at Cambridge University in England.
One of his works in transportation safety was a study at Cambridge in 1927 and 1928 on Royal Air Force student pilots. It showed how the lack of oxygen on simulated flights could impair behavior, giving rise to lack of insight and loss of judgment.
These findings and subsequent studies have had direct implications on understanding aviation accidents as well as fatigue, certain forms of mental illness and the aging process.
Dr. McFarland pursued an academic career of research and teaching. Although primarily trained in the fields of experimental psychology and physiology, he used a wide variety of disciplines to derive scientific principles in relation to environmental stresses.
He then applied these principles to various forms of transportation. He was also a leader in the development of the new field of human factors engineering, or biotechnology.
In his association from 1928 to 1937 with Columbia University in the department of psychology and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, he con, tinued to investigate the ways in which the central nervous system is dependent on a normal supply of oxygen, glucose and other organic constants.
In 1937 he joined the fatigue laboratory at Harvard University and in the course of his work there became an international authority in the design of equipment to meet human capabilities. He wrote a textbook for engineers, “Human Factors in Air Transport Design,” published in 1946. It was followed in 1953 by a second volume entitled “Human Factors in Air Transportation‐Occupational Health and Safety.”
In 1947 he joined the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health and 15 years later, when the Guggenheim Foundation endowed a teaching and research center at Harvard, he was named the first Daniel and Florence Guggenheim professor of aerospace health and safety.
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He was also a founder of the Human Factors Society, an organization with a present membership of more than 1,700 scientists and served as its president from 1969 to 1971.
Since his retirement in 1972, Dr. McFarland has remained active as a tech, nical witness in law cases involving safety. He has also continued work on the effects of carbon monoxide on the brain functions of older people.
Among the honors he has received for his work are the Longacre Award of the Aero Medical Association, the Exceptional Service Award of the United States Air Force and the Distinguished Civilian Service Award of the Department of the Army.
Dr. McFarland received honorary Doctor of Science degrees from Park College, Rutgers University, Trinity College and the University of Denver.
He is survived by his wife, the former Emily Frelinghuysen, and two stepchildren he adopted, H. Edward Bilkey and Laura Barclay.
Funeral services will be held at noon tomorrow at the Dublin Community Church.