James Read Chadwick

James Read Chadwick (2 November 1844, Boston – 23 September 1905, Chocorua, New Hampshire) was an American gynecologist and medical librarian remembered for describing the Chadwick sign of early pregnancy in 1887.

James Chadwick received a B.A. at Harvard in 1865, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1871, studied obstetrics in Europe from 1871 to 1873, and then worked as a gynecologist in Boston. From 1874 he worked at the Boston City Hospital, helping to found the gynecological department, and taught at Harvard Medical School. He helped to found, and became secretary and president of the American Gynaecological Society. He was a founder of the Boston Medical Library Association in 1875, and worked as the librarian until his death. He was voted president of the Association of Medical Librarians in 1904. He was the first president of the Harvard Medical Alumni Association in 1891. He was a supporter of women in the practice of medicine, writing a report which cited the contributions of women in medicine.

A strong advocate of cremation, he was president of the Massachusetts Cremation Society from 1894 until his sudden death in 1905 at his summer home in New Hampshire, probably as a result of a fall from a piazza roof.

He contributed many articles on his specialty to the Transactions of the American Gynecological Association, the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, the American Journal of Obstetrics, etc.