Richard Caton (1842, Bradford – 1926), of Liverpool, England, was a British physician, physiologist and Lord Mayor of Liverpool who was crucial in discovering the electrical nature of the brain and laid the groundwork for Hans Berger to discover alpha wave activity in the human brain.

Caton became a boarder at Scarborough Grammar School where he developed a life-long love of the classics, reflected in later life when he wrote a number of papers on Ancient Greek medicine.

In 1863 after receiving a small legacy from an aunt, he and his mother were able to move to Scotland where he attended Edinburgh Medical School qualifying MB in 1867, FRCP in 1868, and MD in 1870.

[1][2] In 1869 Dr Richard Caton was Demonstrator in Comparative Anatomy at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary School of Medicine which at the time allowed degrees to be taken at University of London.

He played a crucial part in the expansion of the medical school, which included a physiology laboratory opened in 1873.

"[1][3] Dr Richard Caton played a key role in establishing higher education in Liverpool.

When George Holt, the shipping line owner, endowed the Chair of Physiology at University College Liverpool in 1891 as a full-time appointment, Caton resigned in favour of Francis Gotch (1853–1913) who was succeeded in 1895 by Charles Scott Sherrington (1857–1952).

An appeal for funds in 1887, which included £50 from Caton, allowed the construction of the Victoria Building in 1892 on the site of the former lunatic asylum on Brownlow Hill.

After Caton died, Hans Berger was one of few to recognise his importance and cited him in his 1929 report on the discovery of Alpha waves.

Caton could show that strong current variations resulted in brain from light shone into the eyes, and he speaks already of the conjecture that under the circumstances these cortical currents could be applied to localization within the cortex of the brain — (Berger 1929).Caton wrote a number of clinical papers for the British Medical Association, which arose from observations during his clinical practice.

He wrote on such diverse topics as intestinal antisepsis, acromegaly, rheumatic endocarditis, cardiac dilatation and hypertrophy.

He also developed his interest in the classics, giving a lecture to the Royal Institution, London, in 1898 on the topic of the excavations carried out by European and American archaeologists who deciphered inscriptions and restored buildings such as the Temple of Asklepios at Epidauros.

[2] Dr Richard Caton was also President of the Liverpool Medical Institution (1896) where his portrait by G. Chowne hangs.

On Saturday 21 November 1874 Caton opened the proceedings with an address in which he expressed the prophetic opinion that "the Debating Society was destined to be one of the permanent institutions in the School of Medicine.

"[5][6] Educational activities included the presenting of both cases and specimens on a variety of medical and surgical subjects.