Benjamin mclane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its revolutionary message to mothers was that “you know more than you think you do.” Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand children’s needs and family dynamics. His ideas about childcare influenced several generations of parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children, and to treat them as individuals, whereas the previous conventional wisdom had been that child rearing should focus on building discipline, and that, eg, babies should not be “spoiled” by picking them up when they cried. In addition to his pediatric work, Spock also won an Olympic gold medal in rowing in 1924 while attending Yale university. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Spock was expected by his parents to help with the care of his five younger siblings. Spock’s father, a Yale graduate and member of Wolf’s Head Society, was a lawyer for a railroad company. Spock received his undergraduate education from Yale University, where he became a member of Scroll and Key and the Zeta Psi fraternity, and was a rower. As member of the American eight crew, he won a gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, rowing an all-Yale eight, along with James Stillman Rockefeller, also a member of Scroll and Key. Spock attended medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians …