R. Tait McKenzie

Robert Tait McKenzie was a Canadian physician, educator, sculptor and soldier, born in Ramsay Township, Ontario, in 1867 and dying in 1938. He took his medical degree at McGill University, taught anatomy there and in 1898 became its Medical Director of Physical Training, the first such post at a Canadian university. Convinced that conditioning of the body could prevent disease and accidents, he built exercise programs and began physical examinations for incoming students. In 1904 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania as Director of Physical Education. During the First World War he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps, where his methods and apparatus for rehabilitating wounded soldiers helped lay the foundation of modern physiotherapy. His knowledge of anatomy also fed a second career as a sculptor of athletes.