Theodore Holmes Bullock
Ted Bullock | |
---|---|
Born | Theodore Holmes Bullock May 16, 1915 |
Died | December 20, 2005 | (aged 90)
Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley (PhD) |
Awards | Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1963) |
Scientific career | |
Fields |
|
Institutions | |
Thesis | The nervous system of balanoglossids (1940) |
Doctoral advisor | S. F. Light |
Doctoral students | Alan M. Roberts,[2] Eric Knudsen[3] |
Theodore Holmes Bullock (16 May 1915 – 20 December 2005) is one of the founding fathers of
Bullock discovered the
Bullock appealed to the scientific community to look beyond established paradigms in neuroscience, as well as to consider the ecology of an animal when endeavoring to understand its nervous system. As he once wrote, “Neuroscience is part of biology, more specifically of zoology, and it suffers tunnel vision unless continuous with ethology, ecology, and evolution”.[7]
In his quest to go beyond a descriptive account of the nervous system, Bullock studied many different and unrelated, species. He believed that this "comparative approach" would reveal both general principles of the nervous system, and offer insights into which nervous system properties (anatomical, physiological, and chemical) were relevant to observed differences in species-specific traits, as well as which specific traits were relevant to observed differences in nervous systems. His resulting discoveries helped explain various properties of nervous systems. In one influential review he wrote, “Comparative neuroscience is likely to reach insights so novel as to constitute revolutions in understanding the structure, functions, ontogeny, and evolution of nervous systems. […] Without due consideration of the neural and behavioral correlates of differences between higher taxa and between closely related families, species, sexes, and stages, we cannot expect to understand nervous systems or ourselves”.[7]
One colleague described Bullock as an “adventurous scientific explorer, continually seeking undiscovered phenomena and new unifying principles”.[8] Until the very end of his life, at the age of 90, Bullock remained an active and influential presence in the fields of neuroscience and neuroethology.
Biography
The second of four children, Bullock was born May 16, 1915, in
Bullock's doctorate work was performed at UC Berkeley under the supervision of
In 1944 Bullock accepted a faculty position at the
In 1966 Bullock left
Bullock published a vast array of papers. Other than the species previously mentioned, he also studied the nervous systems of
, Bullock published the seminal two-volume “bible of invertebrate neurobiology”: Structure and Function in the Nervous System of Invertebrates.Bullock was known as an inspired teacher and mentor. More than 100 scientists passed through his laboratory as postdoctoral fellows and research associates. From 1949 to 1999, Bullock was the primary adviser for 36 graduating PhD students (17 at Scripps), and in 1982 he retired as a Professor Emeritus. However, retirement could not stop him from remaining at the forefront of comparative neuroscience. At the age of 88 Bullock re-established a modeling study on nerve-nets, and built a model that accurately predicted the input-output relationships for a range of different stimuli. Bullock maintained an active research laboratory and continued studying the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system up until his death, 20 December 2005.
Notable awards and positions
1950–51,
1955–56, President, The American Association of University Professors
1961, Elected as a member,
1963, Admitted into the
1965, President, The
1968, Karl Spencer Lashley Award,
1970, Elected as a member,
1973, Queen’s Fellow in Marine Biology, Australia
1973-4, Third president of
1984, First president of the International Society for Neuroethology[citation needed]
1984,
1988, Honorary Doctorate, University of Frankfurt
2000, Honorary Doctorate, University of Loyola Chicago[citation needed]
References
- ^ S2CID 4383340.
- ProQuest 302225423.
- ^ https://cap.stanford.edu/profiles/viewCV?facultyId=4330&name=Eric_Knudsen [bare URL PDF]
- S2CID 243925.
- S2CID 7195257.
- ^ Williams, J. (12-23-2005), "Ted Bullock, 90; renowned neuroscientist at UCSD's Scripps," http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20051223-9999-1m23bullock.html
- ^ PMID 6740319.
- ^ Josephson, R.K. (2006), "Theodore Holmes Bullock," Biological Bulletin, 210:169–170. http://www.biolbull.org/content/210/3/169.full
Bibliography
- Aguilera, M. (1-3-2006), "Obituary Notice- Renowned Neurobiologist: Theodore Bullock," https://web.archive.org/web/20060901120040/http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/bullock_obituary.asp
- Kristan, B. (March 2006), "Theodore Holmes Bullock, An Appreciation," International Neuroethology Society newsletter, https://web.archive.org/web/20070808195607/http://www.neuroethology.org/newsletter/news_archive/mar_06.pdf
- Pearce, J. (1-9-2006), "Theodore H. Bullock, Animal researcher, is dead at 90," New York Times
- Zupanc, G.K.H. (2004), Behavioral Neurobiology: An Integrative Approach, Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK.
- Preuss, T.M. & Kaas, J. (2006), Evolution of the Nervous System, Burlington MA: Academic Press.
- Bullock’s UCSD profile page, with a list of his publications: https://web.archive.org/web/20060525151009/http://myprofile.cos.com/bullockt82s
- Bullock's autobiography: https://web.archive.org/web/20080821155756/http://cogprints.org/130/0/Autobiog.htm