John Tait (1878 - 21 October 1944) was a 20th-century Scottish physician, physiologist and medical author. He was emeritus Professor of Medicine at McGill University in Canada.[1]
He was born at St Ola in Orkney in 1878. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating M.D. in 1906,[2] and winning the gold medal for best in class that same year. In 1907 John Tait gained a D.Sc.[3] He undertook postgraduate studies at Göttingen and Berlin and began lecturing in Experimental Physiology at Edinburgh in 1910. His essay on “Yohimbine : a contribution to the study of narcotic agents” was awarded the Edinburgh University Milner Fothergill Medal in Therapeutics, 1911.[4]
In the First World War, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in Macedonia and Italy.
In 1917, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer, James Cossar Ewart, James Lorrain Smith and Cargill Gilston Knott. He won the Society's Neill Prize for 1917–1919, and resigned in 1936.[5]
From 1919 to 1940, he was Joseph Morley Drake Professor of Physiology at McGill University.[6] This followed a 4-year interregnum during the First World War following the premature death of Prof George Mines.[7] He was joined in his work by W. J. McNally and Boris Babkin.[8]
In 1938, he had a heart attack, forcing him into semi-retirement. He retired fully in 1940 and had a return trip to Scotland. His position as Professor of Physiology was filled by Babkin.
He died in Montreal on 21 October 1944.