Hans Selye

Hans Selye (born Jan. 26, 1907, Vienna, Austria-Hungary—died Oct. 16, 1982, Montreal, Que., Can.) was an endocrinologist known for his studies of the effects of stress on the human body.

Selye was educated at the German University of Prague (M.D., 1929; Ph.D., 1931) and at the universities of Paris and Rome. In 1931 he came to the United States to work as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins University. In 1932 he continued his fellowship at McGill University in Montreal, where he conducted his pioneering studies. He was later president of the International Institute of Stress at the University of Montreal.

In 1936 Selye wrote about a stress condition known as general adaptation syndrome (GAS). He first observed the symptoms of GAS after injecting ovarian extracts into laboratory rats, an experiment he performed with the intent of discovering a new hormone. Instead, however, he found that the extract stimulated the outer tissue of the adrenal glands of the rats, caused deterioration of the thymus gland, and produced ulcers and finally death. He eventually determined that these effects could be produced by administering virtually any toxic substance, by physical injury, or by environmental stress. Selye was able to extend his theory to humans, demonstrating that a stress-induced breakdown of the hormonal system could lead to conditions, such as heart disease and high blood pressure, that he called “diseases of adaptation.”

Selye was the author of 33 books, including Stress Without Distress (1974), which was translated into several languages.