Karl Bowman

Karl M. Bowman, MD
Dr. Karl Bowman explains the Kinsey scale in the 1961 television documentary The Rejected. Bowman disputed the notion that homosexuality was an illness and supported legal reforms.
Born	November 4, 1888 Topeka, Kansas, United States
Died	March 2, 1973(1973-03-02) (aged 84) San Francisco, California, United States
Residence	United States
Nationality	American
Fields	Psychiatry
Alma mater	Washburn University University of California, Berkeley
Known for	research into alcohol, drugs and sexuality, schizophrenia, insulin shock therapy

Karl Murdock Bowman, MD (November 4, 1888 – March 2, 1973) was a pioneer in the study of psychiatry. From 1944 to 1946 he was the president of the American Psychiatric Association. His work in alcoholism, schizophrenia, and homosexuality is particularly often cited.

Bowman was born in Topeka, Kansas, and graduated from Washburn University. His nickname in college was "Tommy," according to the school's 1910 yearbook. While at Washburn, he was a member and president of the Delta Phi Fraternity, forerunner of the Kansas Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Bowman was initiated into Phi Delta Theta with the chapter’s founding fathers on October 1, 1910. In 1913, he graduated from medical school at the University of California, Berkeley with his M.D.

Bowman was married to the former Eliza Abbot Stearns. Together they had four sons, Dr. Walter M. Bowman, Dr. Thomas E. Bowman, Dr. Murdock S. Bowman, and Professor Richard S. Bowman, and 13 grandchildren.

During World War I, Bowman was a captain in the Army Medical Corps from 1917 to 1919.

In the course of his career, Bowman conducted pioneering work on the psychiatric effects of alcohol, drugs, and sexuality. He also conducted research on schizophrenia and the use of insulin shock therapy. He testified at the trials of Nathan F. Leopold and Richard Loeb for the murder of Robert Franks in 1924 as well as in many other celebrated cases.

During his career, Bowman was the chief medical officer at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital; an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School (1921–1936); the chief of psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital (1936–1941); a professor of psychiatry at New York University Medical College (1936–1941); the first chairman and director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute (1941–1956); and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was also the head of the Laguna Honda Psychiatric Hospital in San Francisco (1941–1967)