author
H. Charlton Bastian
1837–1915
A pioneering Victorian neurologist and physiologist, he helped shape early ideas about the brain, speech, and the nervous system. He was also known for boldly arguing over one of science’s biggest questions: how life begins.
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About the author
Born in Truro, Cornwall, on April 26, 1837, Henry Charlton Bastian studied at University College London and built much of his career there and at University College Hospital. He became known as an important English physiologist and neurologist, and he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1868.
Bastian worked on disorders of the nervous system, especially language, paralysis, and the relation between brain function and behavior. He was also among the early physicians associated with the National Hospital at Queen Square, helping to establish neurology as a serious medical specialty in Britain.
He is remembered not only for his clinical work but also for his willingness to defend controversial ideas. Bastian argued for abiogenesis, the view that life could arise from non-living matter, which put him at the center of major scientific debates in the late nineteenth century. He died on November 17, 1915, in Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire.