Hannah Steinberg

Hannah Steinberg (16 March 1926 – 11 December 2019) was a pioneer of experimental psychopharmacology,[1] the study of the interaction of drugs on the human mind.

Hannah Steinberg
Born16 March 1926
Died11 December 2019(2019-12-11) (aged 93)
Alma materPutney High School
University College London
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity College London
ThesisSome effects of depressant drugs on behaviour (1953)

Early life

Steinberg was born in Vienna to the lawyer Michael Steinberg and his wife Marie (née Wein).[2] They arranged for her to leave Vienna in 1938 and she was one of the first Jewish children to travel on the Kindertransport. and arrived in London where she was educated at Putney High School and Queen Anne's School, Caversham. After studying for a Certificate in Commerce at Reading University and then at Denton Secretarial College[3] she changed course. After beginning a degree in French at University College London,[4] she then converted to Psychology and graduated with a first in 1948.[2]

Career

Her curiosity about science led her to work with Frank Winton in the Department of Pharmacology at UCL, where she completing a PhD exploring the effects of nitrous oxide on task completion.[2] She discovered that small amounts interfered with completing complex tasks but that it also improved memory recall.[5][6] She continued to work at UCL for the rest of her career, in 1962 becoming the first Reader of Psychopharmacology in the world[7] and in 1970, the first Professor of Psychopharmacology. Her research focused on the effects of drug combinations, which she discovered could not be predicted from the actions of the drugs alone. She also explored how the drug efficacy could be impacted by the emotional state of the drug taker. From this her interests grew to encompass drug-taking behaviours and addiction.[8] Many of her test subjects were students and she also tested on staff, including J. B. S. Haldane, but she never tested drugs on humans that she had not tested on herself. She also worked closely with Elizabeth Sykes, her long-term colleague and partner, to investigate benefits of exercise for wellbeing and creativity the potential my harmful exercise addiction.[2]

Other work

Steinberg was a founding member of the British Association of Psychopharmacology and the International College of Neuropyschopharmacology.[2][9] She also founded the Academic Women's Achievement Group at UCL; the minutes from 1979 to 1986 are held at the National Archives.[10]

Publications
  • with P. E. Harrison-Read: Lithium-induced Hypersensitivity to Foot Shock in Rats and the Role of 5-Hydroxytryptophan. Nature New Biol, 232, 30, July 1971, pp 120 sequ doi:10.1038/newbio232120a0

References
  1. Shorter, Edward (2005). A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry. New York, USA: Oxford University Press USA. pp. 311. ISBN 978-0195176681.
  2. Ferry, Georgina (21 January 2020). "Hannah Steinberg obituary". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  3. "Hannah Steinberg". Debretts. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  4. "UCL - London's Global University". UCL. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  5. Steinberg, Hannah; Summerfield, Arthur (1 August 1957). "Influence of a Depressant Drug on Acquisition in Rote Learning". Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 9 (3): 138–145. doi:10.1080/17470215708416234. ISSN 0033-555X. S2CID 145175861.
  6. Legge, David; Steinberg, Hannah; Summerfield, Arthur (1 April 1964). "Simple Measures of Handwriting as Indices of Drug Effects". Perceptual and Motor Skills. 18 (2): 549–558. doi:10.2466/pms.1964.18.2.549. ISSN 0031-5125. PMID 14166054. S2CID 27613089.
  7. "Lifetime Achievement Award 2001". British Association for Psychopharmacology. Archived from the original on 17 August 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  8. Russell, M. A. Hamilton (1 April 1970). "Scientific Basis of Drug Dependence. A Symposium edited by Hannah Steinberg. London: J. and A. Churchill Ltd. 1969. Pp. 429. Price 100s". The British Journal of Psychiatry. 116 (533): 449–450. doi:10.1192/bjp.116.533.449. ISSN 0007-1250. S2CID 146203412.
  9. "Officers and Council, 1974-1975" (PDF). Looking Back - a history of BAP. British Association of Psychopharmacology. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  10. Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
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