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Austin Flint

Born: 1812
Death: 1886

Austin Flint was born in Petersham, Massachusetts in 1812.  He attended Amherst College and Harvard University and obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1833.  Flint moved to Buffalo in 1836.  Along with James Platt White and Frank Hamilton Hastings, Flint is credited with being a driving force in the founding of the University of Buffalo School of Medicine. He was the school's professor of principles and practice of medicine and clinical medicine, and served as the school's registrar and treasurer.  Flint was also founder and editor of the Buffalo Medical Journal.  In 1851, Flint joined fellow School of Medicine faculty members Charles Coventry and Charles A. Lee in debunking the supernatural claims of the spiritualist Fox sisters when the sisters visited Buffalo.

When naming places on the North Campus, UB chose the founding faculty of the School of Medicine for some of the campus roads.  Flint Road, which stretches from Millersport Highway to Capen Hall, was named after Austin Flint.

  • Sources:
    • Batt, Ronald Elmer, et al.  Another Era: A Pictorial History of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Virginia Beach: The Donning Co., 1996 p. 19.
    • Ochvary, Paul.  "Knocking the Supernatural."  Buffalo Physician, Summer 1987, pp.8-12. 

Affiliation(s): Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Record Group(s): 19
Biographical File Contains:
  • Photographs