Founder, Foundation for the Study of Cycles

Edward R. Dewey

Founder of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles (FSC), economist Edward Russel Dewey stumbled upon what would become his passion, the study of cycles, in the early 1930s. He was Chief Economic Analyst for the Department of Commerce carrying out an assignment from President Herbert Hoover to identify the causes of the Great Depression.

Dewey interviewed the world’s leading economist and found that, when asked what they thought caused the depression, there was no consensus. After being advised to examine how business behavior occurred rather than why, he identified verifiable cycles in many economic variables. More astounding, he found that when certain cycles came together at the same time it coincided with significantly large dips in the market.

Upon learning of a Canadian conference on biological cycles held in 1931, Dewey joined forces with the conference leader, Copley Amory, and the conference’s Permanent Committee to form the Foundation for the Study of Cycles (1941), expanding the conference’s original scope to include the study of cycles in economics, geology, biology, sociology, physical sciences, and other disciplines.

In his important paper, The Case for Cycles (July 1967), Dewey writes, “There is considerable evidence … that there are natural environmental forces that alternately stimulate and depress mankind in the mass. These same forces may also affect plant and animal life, weather, and even such normally unchanging things as chemical reactions.”

He was a significant contributor to the Foundation’s Cycles Magazine as well as the four-volume collection of reports on cycles. In addition to memos, reports, and papers, which can be found in the FSC Library, Dewey published Cycles: The Mysterious Forces That Trigger Events with author Og Mandino and Cycles: the Science of Prediction with Edwin F. Dakin.

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution

CHARLES GREELEY ABBOT

Charles Greeley Abbot served as Smithsonian Secretary from 1928 to 1944. An astrophysicist, Abbot began working in the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1895. As the head of solar work at the venerable institution, he conducted extensive research on charting cyclical patterns in solar variations and the measurement of the solar constant in order to better predict long-term weather patterns. After guiding the Smithsonian through the Great Depression and World War II, Abbot continued to advise and mentor the institution’s next generation of leaders and scientists. Abbot lunar crater is named after him. He was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

First Chairman, Foundation for the Study of Cycles

COPLEY AMORY

Though not a scientist, Copley Amory was fascinated with cyclic phenomena and studied everything from sunspots to the stock market. In 1931 he invited 30 scientists to his summer home in Canada for a conference on biological cycles. In 1940, Edward R. Dewey learned of this conference and contacted Amory and other attendees. Amory, Dewey and the conference’s Permanent Committee founded the Foundation for the Study of Cycles, and Amory became FSC’s first chairman.

Vice President, Bakelite Corporation

GEORGE BAEKELAND

George Baekeland lived in Connecticut and hunted on the Scottish moors. A crack trap and skeet shot, he wrote Gunner's Guide, published by Macmillan in 1948. In addition to being a yachtsman and fisherman, he rode horses in point-to-point races, painted water-colors, and made etchings. Baekeland’s father was Leo Hendrik Baekeland, a scientist and inventor, who invented Velox photographic paper and Bakelite, the first entirely synthetic plastic. Baekeland was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Commissioner, Northwest Territories, Canada

CHARLES CAMSELL

Charles Camsell was a respected geologist and civil servant for over 40 years. Early in his career he surveyed some of Canada’s most remote locations on geological expeditions and spoke the languages of several First Nation tribes. In addition to serving as the Commissioner of Canada’s Northwest Territories, he was appointed to the National Research Council, served as president of the Royal Society of Canada, founded the Royal Canadian Geological Society, and was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Governor, Hudson’s Bay Company / Director, Bank of England

SIR PATRICK ASHLEY COOPER

A British Businessman, Sir Patrick Ashley Cooper served as the governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company for over two decades (1931-52). His success in rehabilitating ailing companies at the Bank of England led to Cooper being appointed director of the bank from 1932 to 1955. During this time period he was responsible for keeping the bank operating through the Great Depression and World War II. He was knighted in 1944 for his wartime service. He was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Ambassador of the U.S. to Japan

WILLIAM CAMERON FORBES

An American investment banker and diplomat, William Cameron Forbes served as Governor-General of the Philippines and U.S. Ambassador to Japan. He was a partner at J.M. Forbes and Company, a private investment firm founded by his grandfather. His father was one of the original investors and President of Bell Telephone Company, and his mother was the daughter of poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. Forbes was on the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Institute of Washington, Life Member of the Corporation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Chairman, Corning Glass Works / Chairman, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

ALANSON BIGELOW HOUGHTON

After completing graduate work in Europe, Alanson Bigelow Houghton returned to New York to work for Corning Glass Works. Under Houghton’s leadership, the company founded by his grandfather became one of the country’s largest producers of glass. Houghton served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Germany and the UK. He was on the first Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study with Albert Einstein, the Advisory Council of the American Peace Society, and the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Professor of Geography and Climatology, Yale University

ELLSWORTH HUNTINGTON

A research associate and professor of geography at Yale University, Ellsworth Huntington is known for his research on the relationship between climate, geography, and cultural and economic development. He led expeditions all over the world and authored dozens of books on his travels and research. In addition to being a research assistant at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, he served as president of both the Ecological Society of America and the Board of Directors of the Society for Biodemography and Social Biology. He was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor, McGill University

FRANK CYRIL JAMES

Born in London, England, Frank Cyril James attended college at the London School of Economics and obtained a PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He stayed in the U.S. to pursue a career as an economist, professor, and author and was appointed Principal and Vice-Chancellor at McGill University, a position he held until retirement in 1962. Active in his field, he was a member of numerous organizations in the U.S. and Canada, including the Canadian Advisory Committee on Reconstruction and the National Bureau of Economic Research. He was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Director of Botanical Research, Carnegie Institution of Washington

DANIEL TREMBLY MACDOUGAL

A leading authority on desert ecology and one of the first botanists to study chlorophyll, Daniel Trembly MacDougal invented the McDougal dendrograph, used to record changes in the volume of tree trunks. McDougal was a professor at the University of Minnesota, assistant director at the New York Botanical Garden, and Director of Botanical Research at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, where served until his retirement in 1933. He was a member of the American Philosophical Society, American Society of Plant Physiology, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among many other scholarly organizations, and was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Director and Founder, National Bureau of Economic Research

WESLEY CLAIR MITCHELL

A leading researcher on business cycles, Wesley Clair Mitchell was the founder of and first research director at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he directed quantitative studies of U.S. business cycles. Published early in his career, the subject of Mitchell’s major work, Business Cycles, lead to his lifelong study of cycles. He taught economics at the University of Chicago, was a professor at University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, and founding faculty member at New School for Social Research. He was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.

Director, Harvard College Observatory

HARLOW SHAPLEY

A leader in the astronomical community in the first half of the 20th century, Harlow Shapley was renowned for his ground-breaking work proving that our galaxy was dramatically bigger than all previous estimates. After participating in the Great Debate of 1920, in which he sparred with Heber Curtis on the size of the Universe, Shapley was appointed director of Harvard College Observatory, where he served until his retirement. Shapley served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Astronomical Society, and was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles.