Two famous physiologists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were J.B. Haldane (1860-1936) and his son J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964)—the latter of whom was often known simply as JBS. Both were fascinating characters for a variety of reasons, and both made substantial contributions to physiology. As part of their investigations, they would often experiment on themselves and each other. This is a practice that today may not be deemed ethical—or wise—these days. I very much doubt that they filled in the appropriate forms or sought the approval of their relevant ethics committee.
Outside the laboratory, JBS had an attitude to teaching that mirrored his approach to his research. As Ronald Clark puts it in his JBS: The Life and Work of J.B.S. Haldane (New York: Coward-McCann, 1968)
'When it came to teaching, Haldane had his own ideas. He more than once said that the whole business of University education was to teach people to think; the corollary was that the more they were personally controlled in their studies, the less individual thinking they were likely to do. One outcome was that he often appeared unable to direct properly the work either of students or of his research colleagues.' (p94/5)
(Comment: To do this in some educational establishments today may require a bravery beyond that shown even by the Haldanes!)
