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SEYMOUR S. KETY
August 25, 1915-May 25, 2000
BY LOUIS SOKOLOFF
SEYMOUR SOLOMON KETY, a member of the National Acad-
emy of Sciences since 1962, flier! on May 25, 2000. He
was an outstanding scientific statesman, but more signifi-
cantly an eminent neuroscientist en cl pillar of biological
psychiatry. He will Tong be remembered for his legendary
scientific achievements, outstanding statesmanship, en cl mag-
nanimity of spirit. I was fortunate to have known Seymour
for approximately 56 years as a teacher, preceptor, collabo-
rator, colleague, en cl friend, en cl in every one of these roles
he earnecl an unmatched level of esteem, not just from me
but also from almost everyone with whom he interacted.
He gracecl every fielcl in which he workocl en cl those with
whom he worked, en cl I know of no scientist who was so
universally respected, acimirecI, en c! even TovecI. Neuroscience
en cl psychiatry have suffered a great loss.
Seymour was born in Philaclelphia on August 25, 1915.
He was raiser! there in rather humble but intellectually stimu-
lating surroundings. In his chilc~hoocl he suffered an auto-
mobile-inflictecl injury to one foot that, though not serious,
resulted in residual physical limitations that deprived him
of participation in the usual athletic activities of chilc~hoocl
en cl clirectecl him further toward intellectual pursuits. One
61
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62
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
of his greatest interests was in chemistry, and he spent many
hours carrying out chemical experiments in a laboratory he
created in his home. Seymour received all his primary en cl
secondary school education in Philaclelphia, where he at-
tended the prestigious Central High School, the city's pre-
mier high school. There he was able not only to pursue his
interests in the physical sciences but also to receive a fairly
broacl education in the classics, inclucling both Greek en cl
Latin, en cl to be inspired by an erudite en cl nourishing
faculty.
After graduation from high school he attenclecl the col-
lege en cl then the meclical school of the University of Penn-
sylvania, from which he gracluatec! in 1940. He then mar-
riecl Josephine Gross, whom he hacl known from chilc~hoocI,
en cl entered into a rotating internship at the Philaclelphia
General Hospital. Josephine was also a meclical student en c!
eventually a physician who was particularly interested in
pediatrics. It may well have been her influence that lecl
Seymour to choose an area of research while still in mecli-
cal school en cl to pursue further cluring his internship. This
research lecl to the first of his many major contributions to
meclical science.
Pediatricians were at that time concerned about the many
children they saw with lead poisoning, probably due to their
chewing on the leacI-containing paint on their cribs. Mar-
shaling his long-time interest in and knowledge of chemis-
try, Seymour conceived of the idea of using citrate to treat
lead poisoning, because citrate forms a soluble chelate of
leacl that is relatively rapidly excreted in the urine. Better
and more effective chelating agents are now in use, but this
was the first proof of principle that chelating agents can be
usecl in the treatment of heavy metal intoxication.
To pursue further his interest in leacl poisoning after
completion of his internship, Seymour obtained a National
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
63
Research Council postcloctoral fellowship to work with Jo-
seph Aub, a well-known researcher on leacl poisoning at the
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The fellowship
began in 1942, but by then the Uniter! States was at war,
en cl when Seymour arrived, he founcl that Aub hacl aban-
clonecl his work on leacl poisoning en cl switched to a more
pressing problem cluring wartime: traumatic en c! hemor-
rhagic shock. Seymour joined the group working on that
problem, en cl it was the research on shock that lecl him to
clevelop an interest in circulatory physiology. He became
particularly intriguccl by the cerebral circulation that ap-
pearecl to be relatively preserved in carcliovascular shock by
regulatory mechanisms that acljustec! the distribution of the
reclucecl cardiac output to favor the brain, heart, en cl lungs
at the expense of less vital circulatory becis. To pursue this
new interest he electec! to forego the opportunity to re-
main at Harvard en cl in 1943 returned to the University of
Pennsylvania to work with Carl Schmidt, then a leacling
figure in the field! of the cerebral circulation, Schmidt hac!
just publishecl his bubble-flow-meter technique for the quan-
titative determination of cerebral bloocl flow (CBF) en cl
metabolism in anesthetizes! monkeys. Both Seymour en c!
Josephine hacl been born, raised, en cl eclucatecl in Philaclel-
phia, en cl their desire to return to their roots may also have
been a factor in this decision.
Seymour was an instructor in Schmicit's Department of
Pharmacology when I first met him in 1944 as a student in
his first class in pharmacology. He was an excellent teacher
who presented lucid, stimulating lectures that emphasized
the experimental procedures and results unclerlying the
conclusions that were to be drawn. I still remember how he
macle even a lecture on analgesics exciting. He was popular
with the students en cl reaclily accessible to them. As he was
not much oicler than we were, he often joiner! some of the
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
members of our class on the patio of Houston Hall, the
university's Student Union, where we usually congregated
after lunch. It was in casual conversations on those occa-
sions that we first learner! of his interest in the cerebral
circulation. He was in the process of formulating icleas about
a method for measuring cerebral bloocl flow in human sub-
jects that wouic! require the sampling of cerebral venous
bloocl from the internal jugular vein. I suspect that he might
have been trying to get us to volunteer for the procedure,
but if so, it was without success.
At the 1944 annual meeting of the Federation of Ameri-
can Societies for Experimental Biology there was a sympo-
sium on the cerebral circulation that clealt mainly with the
methods of its measurement. The dominant theme was the
neecl for a method for measuring CBF quantitatively, en cl
preferably one applicable to unanesthetizec! man. There
were at the time nonquantitative methods for studying CBF
in man. One was the thermoelectric flow recorder, a ther-
mocouple in the form of a neecIle that conic! be inserter!
into the jugular vein to detect changes in flow within the
vein by recording changes in the temperature of its bloocl
content. This technique conic! indicate only blooc! flow
changes within the vein but couIcl not measure perfusion
rates within the brain tissue. Another popular method at
the time was the measurement of cerebral arteriovenous O2
differences, which shouIcl vary inversely with changes in CBF
if cerebral O2 consumption (CMRO2) remained constant,
but it clic! not actually measure CBF en c! conic! not clistin-
guish between changes in CBF en cl CMRO2. The only method
that quantitatively cleterminecl both CBF en cl CMRO2 was
the bubble-flow technique of Dumke en c! Schmidt, but this
method required not only anesthesia but also such exten-
sive surgery that its use was restricted to monkeys.
Seymour attenclec! this symposium en c! accepted! the chal-
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
65
lenge with a unique en c! conceptually brilliant approach.
He was aware of Cournand's application of the direct Fick
principle to the determination of cardiac output in man by
measuring the rate of O2 uptake into the lungs en c! the
difference in O2 concentrations between bloocl going to en cl
coming from the lungs. Seymour reasoned that he couIcl
apply the Fick principle indirectly by introducing into the
bloocl a foreign, chemically inert tracer that cliffusecl freely
across the bloocI-brain barrier en cl measuring the cerebral
arteriovenous difference (i.e., difference in tracer concen-
trations in the arterial bloocl going to the brain en cl in
representative cerebral venous bloocl coming from the brain).
He initially chose the freely cliffusible gas nitrous oxide
(N2O) as the tracer en cl aciministerecl it in low concentra-
tions in the inspired air.
Arterial blooc! is the same in all arteries, but was usually
samplecl in the femoral artery. Venous bloocl varies from
vein to vein, but representative cerebral venous bloocl was
sampler! from the superior bulb of the internal jugular vein.
It was necessary also to know the amount of tracer taken up
by the brain. In cleverly designed experiments he showed
that after about 10 minutes the concentrations in the brain
en cl cerebral venous bloocl were close enough to equilib-
rium to allow calculation of brain N2O concentration from
the measurer! cerebral venous concentration at that time
en cl the relative solubilities (i.e., partition coefficient) of
N2O in brain and blood. The same principle applied equally
well to other chemically inert tracers, such as 79krypton en c!
i33xenon, and these were later used sometimes instead of
N2O, because it was more convenient to measure their con-
centrations in blood. Another particularly valuable feature
of the N2O method was that because it required the sam-
pling of both arterial en cl cerebral venous bloocl to cleter-
mine CBF, it became relatively simple also to determine the
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
brain's rates of utilization or production of oxygen, glu-
cose, carbon clioxicle, en cl lactate by measuring their cere-
bral arteriovenous differences en cl multiplying them by the
value obtainer! for CBF.
This ingenious conceptual approach resulted in the Kety-
Schmicit method for the quantitative determination of ce-
rebral blooc! flow en c! metabolism in unanesthetizec! man.
The experimental work that lecl to its clevelopment was sup-
portecl by a grant from the Scottish Rite en cl carried out on
conscientious objectors who hac! volunteered! to be user! as
subjects in meclical research rather than to be incluctecl
into the armecl forces cluring the war. The N2O method
en c! five of its applications in various physiological en c! clis-
ease states were publishecl in a single issue of the Journal of
Clinical Investigation in 1948. Its impact was like a thun-
clerciap that revolutionizer! research on the human brain.
Numerous applications in neurology, psychiatry, en cl mecli-
cine lecl to much of our knowlecige of the normal physiol-
ogy, pathophysiology, en c! pharmacology of the circulation
en cl metabolism of the human brain in health en cl disease.
Carl Schmidt, in whose department Seymour clevelopecl the
method, wrote,
Now, for the first time, the clinical physiologist is no longer at a disadvan-
tage in studying the circulation in the human brain. As a matter of fact he
is now able to learn more about this, and its relation to the metabolic
functions of the organ supplied, than about any other organ of the body.
The change is one of the small profits of the research activities of the war
years and is one more example of the benefits to be expected from giving
brilliant young men opportunities to develop and test out original ideas.
These papers were publishecl while I was serving in the
U.S. Army as a neuropsychiatrist en c! uncleciclec! about what
to clo when I was clischargecI. The iclea of studying clirectly
the circulation en cl energy metabolism of the human brain
in normal en c! mentally ill subjects attracted! me, en c! shortly
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
67
after leaving the Army in 1949 I joiner! Seymour as a
postcloctoral fellow in Julius Comroe's Department of Physi-
ology en cl Pharmacology in the Graduate School of Mecli-
cine of the University of Pennsylvania, where Seymour hac!
been appointed a full professor.
It was a fantastic experience. Seymour was an inspiring
leacler. Despite his towering intellect, he never allowed! it to
overwhelm us. He was always humble en cl unpretentious
en cl listenecl to everything we hacl to say. Often he wouIcl
raise questions en c! patiently consoler our comments even
though, as we wouIcl later learn, he aIreacly knew the an-
swers. His attitude stimulatecl us to think critically en cl cleeply.
A frequent comment of his was, "Well, think about it." He
valuccl conceptualization, originality, en cl uniqueness above
all. In my very first project as a research fellow, which was
on the effects of hyperthyroiclism on cerebral O2 consump-
tion in man, we were scoopecl in the publication of the
entirely unexpected fincling that the oxygen consumption
of the brain remainec! normal despite very large increases
in total belly O2 consumption. He consolecl me with the
comment, "Don't feel bacI. It must not have been such a
great iclea. Someone else thought of it too" a sentiment
typical of his attitude.
Seymour's office in the department hacl two Coors. One
opener! into the corridor en c! the other into the large room
where the research fellows had their desks. The latter door
was almost always open, anct we constantly ~nterruptect hIS
work, which at that time was mainly on the preparation of
his now classical en cl seminal Pharmacological Reviews ar-
ticle "The Theory en cl Applications of the Exchange of In-
ert Gas at the Lungs en c! Tissues." One clay late in the
summer of 1950 the floor was closecl all clay while Seymour
was meeting with two U. S. Public Health Service officers in
their white uniforms.
. . · . . · · ~
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
All of us were curious, of course, because we suspected!
that whatever this meeting involvecl it wouIcl impact us. There-
fore, as soon as the officers left we queried him about the
purpose of their visit. It turner! out that they were Robert
Felix en cl Joseph Bobbitt, the director en cl the executive
officer of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH),
one of the newly former! institutes in the National Insti-
tutes of Health in Bethesda, MarylancI. They hacl come to
offer him the position of scientific director of the intramu-
ral research programs of both the NIMH en c! the National
Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blinciness ( then
NINDB, now National Institute of Neurological Disorders
en c! Stroke). When we asker! him if he wouic! seriously con-
sicler leaving Penn for such an offer, he repliecl that wouIcl
incleecI, because he hacl always been interested in mental
disease en c! that this offer presenter! a challenging oppor-
tunity to study it. We then asked why they would choose
him, a physiologist en cl neither a psychiatrist nor a neu-
rologist, to direct a program of research on mental en c!
neurological diseases. His reply was that he hacl hacl the
same question en cl hacl raisecl it with Felix en cl Bobbitt.
They explained that it was exactly for that reason that they
wan tell him, they thought that the scientific director of a
research program on mental and nervous diseases should
be a basic scientist and not a psychiatrist or neurologist in
order to ensure rigorous en cl scientifically sound research.
Seymour clicl not, however, rush to a decision. After several
months of agonizing rumination en c! frequent consultations
with friends, colleagues, and undoubtedly Josephine, he ac-
ceptecl the appointment, en cl in 1951 left Penn to uncler-
take the organization of the intramural research programs
of the NIMH and NINDB.
The Clinical Center of NIH was under construction when
he arrived, and Seymour, as scientific director, had what he
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
69
consiclerec! almost unlimited! resources in space, budget,
en cl positions to organize the intramural research programs
of the NIMH and NINDB. He approached this responsibil-
ity in characteristic Kety fashion: cautiously, cleliberately,
systematically, studiously, and with great humility. He had
no preconceived notions about how best to stucly mental
en c! neurological diseases but hac! faith that more basic,
funciamental knowlecige of the structure en cl functions of
the nervous system wouIcl be neeclecI. He therefore empha-
sizec! the basic sciences en c! relegates! most of his resources
to laboratories organized along more or less traclitional clis-
ciplinary lines.
Seymour then exhaustively consulted! leaclers in these
clisciplines to identify outstanding cancliciates en cl succeeclecl
in recruiting a truly impressive array of laboratory chiefs.
Some of these were Wacle Marshall, chief of the Laboratory
of Neurophysiology, William WincIle, chief of the Labora-
tory of Neuroanatomical Sciences, Giulio Cantoni, chief of
the Laboratory of Cellular Pharmacology, Kenneth Cole,
chief of the Laboratory of Biophysics, David Shakow, chief
of Psychology, and John CIausen, chief of the Laboratory of
Socio-Environmental Sciences. He retainer! for himself the
position of acting chief of the Laboratory of Neurochemis-
try while he was trying to recruit an outstanding biochemist
with interest in the nervous system, he also reserves! for
himself within that laboratory the Section on Cerebral Me-
tabolism in which he couIcl carry out his own research.
Seymour did not pretend to be expert in all these disci-
plines in the program. Once these laboratory chiefs were
appointed he gave them full authority and support to di-
rect their own laboratories as they chose, but proviclec! them
with his advice, counsel, and assistance in recruiting their
staffs. The laboratory chiefs were selectecl not because they
hac! been working in the latest most fashionable, so-called!
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
"hot" research areas but because they hac! clemonstratec!
originality and conceptual ability in their choice, design,
en cl execution of their previous research. He was unim-
pressec! by mere descriptive research or research driven more
by ambitious, wish-fulf;~ling (though unrealistic) goals than
by insight. His acumen in his selection of laboratory chiefs,
as well as some members of their staffs that he hac! helpec!
to recruit for them, was eventually confirmed, one won a
Nobel Prize, at least three received Lasker awards, en cl at
least a clozen, if not more, were eventually electec! to the
National Academy of Sciences.
While engaged in the organization of the intramural
research programs of the NIMH en c! NINDB, Seymour col-
laboratecl with several biochemists in Europe en cl the Unitecl
States (e.g., Heinrich Waelsch, Paul Manclel, Derek Rich-
ter, Henry McIlwain) in efforts to bring greater recognition
en cl respect to en cl interest in the fielcl of neurochemistry.
Their efforts resultecl in the initiation in 1954 of biennial
neurochemical symposia, later transformer! into the Inter-
national Society for Neurochemistry, the foundling of the
journal of Neurochemistry in 1956, en cl the establishment
of the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO)
in 1960.
Seymour allocatecl to his own Section on Cerebral Me-
tabolism a moclest amount of laboratory space in which to
conduct his own research. Because his nitrous oxide method
measured only average bloocl flow en cl metabolic rates in
the brain as whole, it conic! not localize changes in these
functions in discrete regions of the brain. He therefore
undertook the clevelopment of a method to measure local
cerebral blooc! flow baser! on his theory of inert gas ex-
change between bloocl en cl tissues that he hacl previously
developed and published in 1951. With the help of several
research fellows (i.e., William Landau, Walter Freygang, Lewis
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
71
RowlancI, en c! myself) he ingeniously translates! his theories
into an operational method for measuring local CBF. The
method couIcl be usecl with any chemically inert tracer that
conic! diffuse freely across the bloocI-brain barrier, but they
selectecl i3iI-labelecl trifluoroloclomethane ~ ki3iI] CF3I), a gas
with the requisite properties. Localization within the brain
was achieved by a unique quantitative autoradiographic tech-
nique that limitecl its use to animals. The method en cl its
use to determine local CBF in incliviclual structural en cl
functional units of the brain in conscious en c! anesthetizes!
cats was first reported in 1955. When usecl to examine the
effects of visual stimulation, the autoracliograms clearly vi-
suaTizec! the increases in CBF in the various structures of
the visual pathways en cl lecl to the very first publishecl clem-
onstration of functional brain imaging, a fielcl now enjoy-
ing enormous popularity.
Because the trifluoroloclomethane method was clesignecl
for use with autoracliography, it couIcl be usecl only cluring
uptake of tracer by the tissues. The unclerlying principles
on which it was basecl were, however, equally applicable to
clearance of the tracer from tissues after they hacl been
pre-Ioaclec! with the tracer. Seymour hac! in fact user! the
clearance approach to determine bloocl flow in muscle of
human subjects. He hacl injected i4NaCl clirectlyinto the
muscle en c! measurer! its clearance from its site of injection
with a Geiger counter. The publication in 1949 that de-
scribed these experiments included a detailed description
of the theory and procedure for calculating local blood
flow from the rate of clearance of the tracer. The 24NaCl
clearance method couIcl not, however, be usecl in brain
because 24NaCT is not freely cliffusible in either direction
across the bloocI-brain barrier, but Niels Lassen, David Ingvar,
en cl colleagues later aciaptecl it by using radioactive gases,
first radioactive krypton (85Kr) and subsequently i33xenon.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
The i33Xe methoc! has been extensively en c! very effectively
usecl as a clinical en cl research tool for several clecacles.
More recently the trifluoroloclomethane method has been
resurrected! for human use, but with i50-labelec! water as
the tracer en cl PET scanning in place of autoracliography,
en cl is now wiclely usecl in the functional brain imaging of
cognitive processes in humans. All these fantastic new cle-
velopments in neurobiology were clerivecl from Seymour's
· ~
pioneering won a.
In ~ 956 Seymour stepper! clown from the position of
scientific director to become the chief of the Laboratory of
Clinical Science. Having completecl organization of the ba-
sic research components of the intramural research pro-
grams of NIMH en cl NINDB en cl being too humble to feel
that he shouIcl or couIcl direct or interfere with the re-
search of the outstanding en c! diverse cacire of laboratory
chiefs that he hacl assemblecI, he no longer founcl the posi-
tion of scientific director sufficiently challenging. As he put
it, he no longer enjoyed! the role of "clecicling where to put
the broom closets." There were also other reasons, he was
anxious to become more immersed in his own research in
new areas in which he hac! become interested. He hac! been
impressed by clevelopments in psychopharmacology, par-
ticularly those involving the monamine neurotransmitters
and the actions of psychotomimetic drugs, such as LSD,
mescaline, inclole derivatives, en cl the like. There were sug-
gestions at the time that abnormal metabolites of amino
acicis or of epinephrine might be involves! in schizophre-
nia. There were also a few publishecl studies, which though
flawed and inconclusive suggested genetic influences in
schizophrenia. All this reinforcer! Seymour's suspicion that
schizophrenia might be a biochemical clisorcler that was at
least partly inherited. He therefore establishecl in the Labo-
ratory of Clinical Science a program of research on the
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
73
biology of schizophrenia. One of his projects was to exam-
ine the hypothesis that abnormal disposition of epineph-
rine might be involvecl in schizophrenia, en cl to facilitate
this stucly he contracted! for the first commercial synthesis
of radioactive epinephrine and norepinephrine. The labelecl
compounds later proved to be of immense value to Julius
AxeirocI, a member of the laboratory, in his Nobel Prize-
winning research. Although no definitive evidence of a
biochemical defect linkocl to schizophrenia was clerivecl from
these studies, they clic! serve to organize Seymour's think-
ing about the subject en cl lecl to his publication of several
critical en cl heuristic papers in Science that almost certainly
lair! the foundation for moclern biological psychiatry. He
was quite amused by my quip that he had transmuted psy-
chiatry from psychoanalysis to urinalysis.
His research at NIMH was interrupter! in 1961, when he
accepted the position of chairman of the Department of
Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. He had, however,
never received formal training in clinical psychiatry, and he
felt very uncomfortable being in the position of psychiatrist
in chief at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Therefore,
after one year he resigner! en c! returnee! to his position as
chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Science at NIMH en cl
resumed his research on schizophrenia, this time focused
on the question of genetic contributions to the disease.
Previous studies of siblings en cl monozygotic en cl clizy-
gotic twins hacl suggested a genetic influence, but they hacl
failer! to clisentangle convincingly the roles of "nature en c!
nurture." He conceived the brilliant idea of studying the
adoptive en cl biological family lines of schizophrenics who
hac! been acloptec! at birth. The necessary ciata were avail-
able in the Danish Case Registry, en cl he in collaboration
with colleagues, mainly David Rosenthal en cl Paul Wencler
at NIMH en c! Fini Schuisinger in Denmark, initiates! such
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
studies. In 1967 he left NIMH for Harvarc! University, where
he first became director of psychiatric research at the Mas-
sachusetts General Hospital, then director of the Laborato-
ries for Psychiatric Research, Mailman Research Center,
McLean Hospital, en cl finally professor of neuroscience in
the Department of Psychiatry. In ~ 983 he retired from
Harvarc! en c! returnee! to NIMH from which he retiree! once
again in 1996.
Throughout all these clecacles en cl all his moves he con-
tinucc! his studies on acloptec! schizophrenics. The results
clemonstratecl far greater incidence of the disease in the
biological than in the adoptive family lines and thus pro-
viclec! unequivocal evidence of a major genetic component
in the etiology of schizophrenia. The conclusions were not
reaclily accepted by many committed to a social ancI/or en-
vironmental basis for the disease. Seymour acknowlecigec!
that schizophrenia was not a purely genetic disease, like
phenylketonuria or Huntington's disease, only that there
was an inherited! susceptibility in a group of patients that
fell within what he callecl a "schizophrenia spectrum." He
responclecl to sometimes severe criticism with his character-
istic wit en c! wisdom. For example, in response to the state-
ment "Schizophrenia is a myth," he wrote, "If schizophre-
nia is a myth, it is a myth with a strong genetic component."
The adoption studies contributes! not only to our uncler-
standing of schizophrenia but also their underlying strategy
en cl design proviclecl a research moclel that has been en cl
continues to be follower! in studies of a number of other
psychiatric disorders.
Seymour Kety's legacy encompasses at least three differ-
ent areas of endeavor. As a physiologist he made extraordi-
nary contributions mainly to the fielcl of cerebral circula-
tion en cl metabolism but also to general circulatory en cl
respiratory physiology. As a wise and adroit statesman he
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
75
clevelopec! at NIMH en c! NINDB outstanding research pro-
grams in neuroscience, contributed substantially to the rec-
ognition of neurochemistry as a respectable en cl important
field! of neuroscience, was a powerful force for the clevelop-
ment of biological psychiatry, en cl was a sage counselor on
countless advisory boards en cl committees. As a psychiatric
geneticist he conceptualizes! en c! clevelopec! a methoclologi-
cal approach for separating the contributions of nature en cl
nurture in the etiology of mental disease en cl usecl it to
prove the existence of a strong genetically cleterminec! vul-
nerability to schizophrenia.
There is, in aciclition, Seymour Kety the man. His pro-
fessional achievements gainer! him enormous international
recognition en cl acclaim. He received many awards, honor-
ary degrees, en cl honorary titles en cl was electecl into some
of the most honorific societies, such as the National AcacI-
emy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts en cl Sci-
ences, en cl the American Philosophical Society. In 1999 he
receiver! his last award, the Lasker Awarc! for Special Achieve-
ment in Meclical Science, which touched him cleeply. None
of these honors changecl him. He remained the same humble,
moclest, self-effacing, unselfish, considerate, kincI, generous,
en cl warm human being that he was when I first met him 56
years earlier. He always remained reaclily accessible to all
and never used his razor-sharp intellect to overwhelm or
intimidate. He was intensely loyal en cl supportive of his col-
leagues en cl truly relishecl their successes whenever they
occurred. Perhaps his wife, Josephine, a master of one-liner
repartee, kept him humble. For example, Seymour once
expressed to her his surprise that a newly arrival research
fellow from India clic! not appear to be very impresser! when
Seymour had proudly escorted him through NIH's newly
opened Clinical Center, the worIcl's largest all-brick builcI-
ing furnisher! with the most moclern hospital facilities. Her
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76
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
response was, "Dic! you ever hear of the Taj Mahal?" When
Seymour was scientific director of NIMH, psychoanalysis was
a powerful influence in psychiatry, en cl the NIH aciministra-
tion felt that the director of its research program shouic!
undergo a personal psychoanalysis. Seymour resisted, but
finally, when they offered to pay for it, he was inclinecl to
accept. Josephine's comment was, "Suppose they offerer!
you a free appendectomy. Would you take it?"
The Ketys were generous en cl genial hosts en cl wouIcl
often entertain at their home. These were always clelightfuT
experiences full of scintillating conversation en cl humor from
guests with a wicle variety of backgrounds. Seymour hacl an
a
enormous reservoir of jokes en c! amusing anecdotes that he
enjoyed telling and occasionally using to make a point. The
Ketys were also great art lovers, en cl Seymour was enam-
orec! of goof! foot! en c! wine. Seymour Kaufman en c! I, both
of us in the intramural program of NIMH, were present at
what was probably the zenith of his experience with the
French cuisine. In the summer of ~ 958 the three of us
attenclecl in sequence an International Neurochemical Sym-
posium in Strasbourg, France, an International Biochemi-
cal Congress in Vienna, Austria, en c! finally the inaugural
meeting of the Collegium Internationale Neuro-
Psychopharmacologicum (CINP) in Rome, Italy. During the
meeting in Strasbourg Kety inquirer! from Kaufman en c!
me whether, if he bought a car, we wouIcl be willing to rifle
with him to these meetings en cl then onto Paris, France.
We, of course, gratefully accepted, but it was not until we
reached France on the leg from Rome to Paris that we
Earned his intentions. He hacl longecl to but hacl never
previously eaten at any of the three-star restaurants in the
almost biblical Guide Michelin. He hacI, therefore, plannecl
a route that lecl us to four of only twelve such restaurants in
all of France so honoree! at that time by the guicle. Because
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SEYMOUR S. KETY
77
of time constraints we ate in four consecutive clays at
Baumaniere in Les Baux, Provence, De La Pyramicle in
Vienne, Burgundy, Hostellerie cle la Poste in Avallon, Bur-
guncly, en c! La Tour cl'Argent in Paris. Kaufman en c! I were
thoroughly saturated with fowl but not iron-man Kety, who
attributed our weakness to lack of stamina clue to our youth.
Those restaurants probably represented! the epitome of the
traclitional French haute cuisine with its rich, flavorful sauces
that he hacl come to admire so much. He later lamentecl
the subversion of the classical French sauces by the advent
of the nouvelle cuisine en cl cuisine minccur.
Seymour is survivecl by his wife, Josephine, daughter,
Roberta Kety, son, Lawrence Kety, en c! two grancichiTciren.
He will be greatly missecl not only by them but also by his
many colleagues en cl friends whose lives he so greatly influ-
encec! en c! enriched.
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78
BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS
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The measurement of regional circulation by local clearance of ra-
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1968
With D. Rosenthal (eds.~. The Transmission of Schizophrenia. Oxford:
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With P. H. Wender and D. Rosenthal. Genetic relationships within
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
venous bloocl
