professor, pharmacologist, b. Wall Lake, Sac County, Iowa. He graduated from Penn College, Oskaloosa, Ia. (B.S., 1905) and the State Univ. of Iowa (M.S., 1907). From 1907 to 1910 he taught chemistry at the Univ. of Colorado, and in 1911 came to the Univ. of Wisconsin as instructor in pharmacology, serving in this capacity from 1911 to 1913. He graduated from the Univ. of Chicago (Ph.D., 1913) and from Rush Medical College in Chicago (M.D., 1914). From 1914 to 1918, Tatum taught successively at the Univ. of Pennsylvania, and the Univ. of South Dakota, and from 1918 to 1928 was a member of the faculty of the Univ. of Chicago. Returning to Wisconsin in 1928, he was appointed professor of pharmacology, and from 1929 until his retirement to emeritus status in 1954 was chairman of the department of pharmacology. Widely recognized for his investigations of dope addiction, the action of barbiturates and treatment of overdosage, Tatum developed the use of purotoxin to counteract barbiturate overdoses, and also developed antiluetic and anti-malarial drugs. A member of numerous professional and honorary societies, he was president (1937-1938) of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Who's Who in Amer., 24 (1946); Madison Wis. State journal, Nov. 12, 1955; Univ. of Wis. Faculty Memorial, Document 1201, Dec. 5, 1955 (on file in office of secretary of the faculty).

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Arthur Lawrie Tatum Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]