Thomas Graham Brown

Thomas studied science and medicine at the University of Edinburgh, gaining an MD in 1912 with a thesis on the rhythmic movement of decerebrate animals, followed in 1914 with a DSc from the same institution for a thesis on immediate and successive effects of compound stimulation in spinal preparations, before moving to Glasgow and Liverpool. Although his work was largely ignored for many years, he was the first to propose a half-centre model of motor neurons in which two groups of spinal neurons that are both reciprocally organized and mutually inhibiting are capable of producing basic rhythmic movement. His theory reflects today's widely accepted concept of central pattern generators in motor neurons. However, at the time, his views opposed those of his mentor, Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, who believed that the locomotor movements observed in decerebrate animals were caused by a chain of reflexes initiated by proprioception feedback. By contrast, Brown's research demonstrated that in the absence of cutaneous and proprioceptive signals, deafferented animals were still capable of generating alternating muscular rhythms.

Brown went on to serve in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War. After the war, he continued his work on the physiology of the nervous system, particularly reflex movements and posture, In 1927 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In an article in the Alpine Journal, Graham Brown wrote

He climbed the first of these routes, the Sentinelle Rouge, with Frank Smythe on 1–2 September 1927. Smythe also accompanied him on the first ascent of Route Major on 6–7 August 1928. The third route – the Pear Buttress – ascended the large rock buttress on the left of the face, and was made by Graham Brown, together with Alexander Graven and Alfred Aufdenblatten, on 5 August 1933.

Graham Brown was the editor of the Alpine Journal from 1949 to 1953.

In 1935, Graham Brown made the first ascent of Alaska's 5304 m Mount Foraker in company with Charles Houston and Chychele Waterston.

In 1936, Graham Brown was part of the joint British–American team that made the first ascent of Nanda Devi in the Indian Himalaya, though only two of the party, Bill Tilman and Noel Odell, made the summit.

Bequests Graham Brown bequeathed his collection of alpine and mountaineering literature, consisting of some 20,000 items, to the National Library of Scotland. The original house was sold by Edinburgh University as part of their sale of assets to meet debts in the 1990s. After protests by members of the time, the university named a flat in newly constructed student accommodation "Graham Brown House"; this flat is still used by the club.