{{short description|Austrian-born British pioneer of experimental psychopharmacology}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Hannah Steinberg | thesis_title = Some effects of depressant drugs on behaviour | thesis_url = http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/156993234 | thesis_year = 1953 | native_name = | image = EWS02c.06.jpg | alma_mater = Putney High School <br> University College London | workplaces = University College London | caption = Steinberg in 1997 | birth_date = 16 March 1926 | death_date = {{death date and age |2019|12|11 |1926|03|16 |df=yes}} }}
'''Hannah Steinberg''' (16 March 1926 – 11 December 2019) was a pioneer of experimental psychopharmacology,<ref>{{Cite book|title = A Historical Dictionary of Psychiatry|url = https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00shor|url-access = limited|last = Shorter|first = Edward|publisher = Oxford University Press USA|year = 2005|isbn = 978-0195176681|location = New York, USA|pages = [https://archive.org/details/historicaldictio00shor/page/n323 311]}}</ref> the study of the interaction of drugs on the human mind.
==Early life== Steinberg was born in Vienna to the lawyer Michael Steinberg and his wife Marie (née Wein).<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/21/hannah-steinberg-obituary|title=Hannah Steinberg obituary|last=Ferry|first=Georgina|date=2020-01-21|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-21|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> They arranged for her to leave Vienna in 1938 and she was one of the first Jewish children to travel on the Kindertransport. and arrived in London where she was educated at Putney High School and Queen Anne's School, Caversham. After studying for a Certificate in Commerce at Reading University and then at Denton Secretarial College<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/17619/Hannah-STEINBERG|title = Hannah Steinberg|access-date = 13 October 2015|publisher = Debretts}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> she changed course. After beginning a degree in French at University College London,<ref>{{Cite web|title = UCL - London's Global University|url = http://www.ucl.ac.uk|website = UCL|access-date = 2015-10-13}}</ref> she then converted to Psychology and graduated with a first in 1948.<ref name=":0" />
==Career== Her curiosity about science led her to work with Frank Winton in the Department of Pharmacology at UCL, where she completing a PhD exploring the effects of nitrous oxide on task completion.<ref name=":0" /> She discovered that small amounts interfered with completing complex tasks but that it also improved memory recall.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Steinberg|first1=Hannah|last2=Summerfield|first2=Arthur|date=1957-08-01|title=Influence of a Depressant Drug on Acquisition in Rote Learning|journal=Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology|language=en|volume=9|issue=3|pages=138–145|doi=10.1080/17470215708416234|s2cid=145175861|issn=0033-555X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Legge|first1=David|last2=Steinberg|first2=Hannah|last3=Summerfield|first3=Arthur|date=1964-04-01|title=Simple Measures of Handwriting as Indices of Drug Effects|journal=Perceptual and Motor Skills|language=en-US|volume=18|issue=2|pages=549–558|doi=10.2466/pms.1964.18.2.549|pmid=14166054|s2cid=27613089|issn=0031-5125}}</ref> She continued to work at UCL for the rest of her career, in 1962 becoming the first Reader of Psychopharmacology in the world<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bap.org.uk/lifeawards.php?awardID=24|title=Lifetime Achievement Award 2001|website=British Association for Psychopharmacology|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150817032525/http://www.bap.org.uk/lifeawards.php?awardID=24|archive-date=2015-08-17|access-date=13 October 2015}}</ref> and in 1970, the first Professor of Psychopharmacology. Her research focused on the effects of drug combinations, which she discovered could not be predicted from the actions of the drugs alone. She also explored how the drug efficacy could be impacted by the emotional state of the drug taker. From this her interests grew to encompass drug-taking behaviours and addiction.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Russell|first=M. A. Hamilton|date=1970-04-01|title=Scientific Basis of Drug Dependence. A Symposium edited by Hannah Steinberg. London: J. and A. Churchill Ltd. 1969. Pp. 429. Price 100s.|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/scientific-basis-of-drug-dependence-a-symposium-edited-by-hannah-steinberg-london-j-and-a-churchill-ltd-1969-pp-429-price-100s/EEB33D90D6B82A0AA1824A59C4C64AAD|journal=The British Journal of Psychiatry|language=en|volume=116|issue=533|pages=449–450|doi=10.1192/bjp.116.533.449|s2cid=146203412 |issn=0007-1250|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Many of her test subjects were students and she also tested on staff, including J. B. S. Haldane, but she never tested drugs on humans that she had not tested on herself. She also worked closely with Elizabeth Sykes, her long-term colleague and partner, to investigate benefits of exercise for wellbeing and creativity the potential my harmful exercise addiction.<ref name=":0" />
==Other work== Steinberg was a founding member of the British Association of Psychopharmacology and the International College of Neuropyschopharmacology.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.bap.org.uk/pdfs/History_InauguralCorrespondence_06.pdf|title = Officers and Council, 1974-1975|access-date = 13 October 2015|website = Looking Back - a history of BAP|publisher = British Association of Psychopharmacology}}</ref> She also founded the Academic Women's Achievement Group at UCL; the minutes from 1979 to 1986 are held at the National Archives.<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Discovery Service|url = http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F131136|website = discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk|access-date = 2015-10-13|language = en|first = The National|last = Archives}}</ref>
==Publications== * with P. E. Harrison-Read: ''Lithium-induced Hypersensitivity to Foot Shock in Rats and the Role of 5-Hydroxytryptophan.'' Nature New Biol, 232, 30, July 1971, pp 120 sequ {{doi|10.1038/newbio232120a0}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinberg, Hannah}} Category:Academics of University College London Category:Kindertransport refugees Category:English psychologists Category:Psychopharmacologists Category:Alumni of University College London Category:People educated at Putney High School Category:People educated at Queen Anne's School Category:Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United Kingdom Category:Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:1926 births Category:2019 deaths