Richard Hume Adrian, 2nd Baron Adrian FRS (16 October 1927 – 4 April 1995) was a British physiologist.

Adrian was born in Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

 in 1927, the only son of Edgar Adrian

Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian

Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian OM PRS was a British electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Physiology, won jointly with Sir Charles Sherrington for work on the function of neurons....

 and his wife Hester Pinsent, a mental health

Mental health

Mental health describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology or holism mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and procure a balance between life activities and...

 worker. His father won a Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 in 1932, was President of the Royal Society

President of the Royal Society

The president of the Royal Society is the elected director of the Royal Society of London. After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was founded officially on 15 July 1662 for the encouragement of ‘philosophical studies’, by a royal charter which nominated William Brouncker as...

 1950–1955 and was created Baron Adrian

Baron Adrian

Baron Adrian, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 27 January 1955 for the electrophysiologist and Nobel Prize recipient Edgar Adrian. He was succeeded by his only son, the second Baron. He was Professor of cell physiology at...

 in 1955. Richard Adrian was Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, and Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge from 1981-1992. He was the Great Uncle to Skandar Keynes

Skandar Keynes

Skandar Keynes is a British actor. He is best known for starring as Edmund Pevensie in the Chronicles of Narnia film series since 2005. He has appeared in all three installments, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian and most recently The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which was...

, who is famous for his leading role in the The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of English fantasy films from Walden Media that are based on The Chronicles of Narnia, a series of novels written by C. S. Lewis...

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In 1967 he married Lucy Caroe, historical geographer. She was the daughter of the architect Alban Caroe

Alban Caroe

Alban Douglas Rendall Caroe FSA FRIBA was a British architect.He was the son of W. D. Caroe and brother of Sir Olaf Caroe. He married Gwendolen Mary , daughter of William Henry Bragg. His son, with whom he worked, was Martin Caroe. His daughter, Lucy Caroe, historical geographer, married...

 and her grandfathers were W. D. Caroe and William Bragg

William Bragg

William Bragg may refer to:* William David Bragg , cricketer* William Henry Bragg , joint 1915 Nobel Prize winning physicist* William Lawrence Bragg , joint 1915 Nobel Prize winning physicist...

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Adrian was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his contributions to physiology in 1977 and in the same year became the second Baron Adrian after the death of his father. He was active in politics in the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

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