Respiratory physiologist. Haldane was born in Edinburgh into a
notable family, which included evangelist brothers Robert (1764
- 1842) and James Haldane (1768 - 1851), the latter being John
Scott Haldane's grandfather. He was the brother of politician
Richard Burdon Haldane, Viscount Haldane of Cloan (1856 - 1928),
and authoress Elizabeth Haldane (1862 - 1937). If this were not
enough, Haldane fathered biologist J.B.S. Haldane (1892 - 1964)
and authoress Naomi Mitchison (1897 - 1999). Haldane was read
medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1884. His
first position was at Queen's College, Dundee (then part of the
University of St. Andrews). He transferred to Oxford, where is
uncle was Professor in 1887, and lectured and researched in
medicine. He established that it was the high concentration of
carbon dioxide in the blood, not the low concentration of
Oxygen, which regulated the breathing rate (1905). He
demonstrated the effects of altitude and water pressures on
respiration and devised a proc