Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley (December 1, 1902 – May 31, 1979) was an American physician, child psychiatrist and professor who is notable for the serendipitous discovery that the use of Benzedrine in children with certain behavioral problems results in improvement of academic performance. His work prompted later investigations into the subject that eventually led to the current pharmaceutical use of stimulant medication in treatment of ADHD.

Charles grew up in Providence, Rhode Island along with his two brothers, Horatio Hunt Bradley and George Lothrop Bradley. His father of the same namesake, Charles Bradley, lead a successful career at a Pittsburgh office of the Bell Telephone Company where he eventually became a superintendent. His mother, Helen Nancy Hunt Bradley, owned a bookstore, but some time after she became a widow in 1910, when Charles's father suddenly died of sepsis following a hand injury at the age of 33, she became unemployed.

Bradley would later complete his medical studies at a Philadelphia hospital where he earned an M.D. degree and eventually, in 1930, Bradley married the scientific researcher Helen Katherine Teale with whom he would have 2 children, Charles Bradley Jr. and Marcy Bradley.

Medical career and later life In 1932, just a year after the Bradley hospital was created, Charles was hired by the hospitals director, Arthur Ruggles, at least partly because of Charles' recognizable name. Ruggles pushed Bradley to pursue neurology and pediatrics instead of physical education and a year later, in 1933, Charles became the hospitals second ever director. In 1943, after the previous hospitals superintendent went into retirement, Charles replaced the vacant position and was responsible for the change of hospital dresscode. On April 9th, 1948, Bradley left the hospital and joined the Oregon Medical School as a professor where he founded, and was a director of, the child psychiatry department.

During his life, Bradley wrote extensively on childhood schizophrenia and was a leader in the use of residential treatment for children with behavioral problems.

Research Charles Bradley was credited with the invention of "Air encephalography" which made pneumoencephalographical images sharper by drawing out Cerebrospinal fluid and replacing it with air. Bradley also made x-ray neuroimaging easier to perform by designing a small child-sized chair specifically for the procedures.