Ross McFarland Dies; Pioneered Study of Stress

Ross A. McFarland, Guggenheim Professor of Aerospace Health and Safety Emeritus at the School of Public Health and a pioneer in the study of human response to environmental stress, died Sunday at the age of 75.

McFarland devoted over 35 years to research and teaching at Harvard. He was a member of the faculty of the School of Public Health from 1947 until his retirement in 1972.

His research centered on the relationship between changes in the blood, in the nervous system and in behavior to various physical stresses imposed by the environment.

"He was a very warm individual in the faculty," William M. Schmidt, professor of Maternal and Child Health Emeritus at the School of Public Health, said yesterday. "He had an extremely loyal following of students."

McFarland was one of the first researchers to show how lack of oxygen could impair the sensory perception and mental functioning of pilots and mountaineers.

Much of McFarland's work dealt with the effects of diminished oxygen supply on the central nervous system, especially in the field of vision, and with the process of again. His theory relating the sensory and mental changes of aging to alterations in the oxygenation of body tissues has been widely accepted.