Charles Armstrong (MD)

Charles Armstrong
Armstrong about 1950 in his laboratory courtesy of National Library of Medicine
Born	(1886-09-25)September 25, 1886 Alliance, Ohio
Died	June 23, 1967(1967-06-23) (aged 80) Bethesda, Maryland
Occupation	Physician in the U.S. Public Health Service
Known for	Discovery of LCM Virus

Charles Armstrong (September 25, 1886 – June 23, 1967) was an American physician in the U.S. Public Health Service. He coined the name Lymphocytic choriomeningitis in 1934 after isolating the hitherto completely unknown virus. He discovered in 1939 that poliovirus can be transmitted to cotton rats, and started self-tests with nasal spray vaccination.

In 1905 Charles Armstrong graduated from Alliance High School and went on to Mount Union College Preparatory School from 1905–1906. He took a B.S. degree from Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio in 1910. In 1915 he graduated from Johns Hopkins Medical School, with an M.D. degree and did a General Internship at Yale-New Haven Hospital until 1916.

On October 16, 1916, he was commissioned to the U.S. Public Health Service and served for six weeks at the Immigration Station, Ellis Island, New York. From November 1916 to September 1918, he was Medical Officer on the United States Coast Guard Cutter (CSG) Seneca assigned to Cuban and European waters for 17 months until the ship was transferred to the U.S. Navy during World War I.

When in the fall of 1918 local outbreaks of pandemic influenza occurred, Armstrong was a member of the investigating team. From 1919 to 1921, he worked as an Epidemiological Aide to the Ohio State Department of Health. For the next decades, from 1921 until his retirement from active duty in 1950 he worked at the Hygienic Laboratory, remaining there through its administrative and name changes to the National Institutes of Health. From 1950 to 1963, Armstrong continued at the Institute, doing daily research work without compensation.

Armstrong was married to Elizabeth Alberta Rich from 1920 till his death. He had one daughter Mary Emma (*1924).

His papers were donated to the National Library of Medicine by Dr. Leake and Mary Emma Armstrong in 1972.

Armstrong's worldwide recognition as a virologist is due (a) to his discovery, in 1934, of the virus that is the agent in a clinical entity, which he named lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) and (b) to his successful work in polio research and polio prevention.