Wallace Osgood Fenn[1] (April 27, 1893 – September 20, 1971) was a physiologist, chairman of the department of physiology at the University of Rochester from 1925 to 1959.
His work on heat generated by muscles, oxygen use by the nervous system, and potassium equilibrium in muscle, as well as pressure breathing and nitrogen narcosis, was recognized internationally.
His graduate work and Ph.D. thesis were interrupted by World War I, and he finished it upon return from the army in 1919.
Subsequently, he assumed his position as the chairman of the department of physiology at the University of Rochester, where he stayed until 1959.
The American Physiological Society obituary described him as "[a] sincerely modest man [who] avoided the spotlight and never dominated a meeting or conversation, but he was forceful when required and had a warm, outgoing nature with a delightful sense of humor".