Torsten Wiesel
Torsten Wiesel | |
---|---|
7th President of Rockefeller University | |
In office 1991–1998 | |
Preceded by | David Baltimore |
Succeeded by | Arnold J. Levine |
Personal details | |
Born | Torsten Nils Wiesel 3 June 1924 Uppsala, Sweden |
Spouses | |
Alma mater | Karolinska Institute |
Known for | Visual system |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Institutions | |
Torsten Nils Wiesel (born 3 June 1924) is a Swedish
Career
Wiesel was born in
In 1983, Wiesel joined the faculty of Rockefeller University as Vincent and Brooke Astor Professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurobiology. He was president of the university from 1991 to 1998.[10] At Rockefeller University he remains the director of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior.
From 2000-2009, Wiesel served as Secretary-General of the Human Frontier Science Program,
Wiesel has also served as chair of the board of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (1995–2001), president of the Society for Neuroscience (1978–1979), and the International Brain Research Organization (1998–2004). He was chair of the board of governors of the New York Academy of Sciences (2001–2006); and he was the academy's chairman and interim director in 2001–2002.[14]
Research
The Hubel and Wiesel experiments greatly expanded the scientific knowledge of sensory processing. In one experiment, done in 1959, they inserted a
Hubel and Wiesel were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981 for their work on ocular dominance columns in the 1960s and 1970s. By depriving kittens from using one eye, they showed that columns in the primary visual cortex receiving inputs from the other eye took over the areas that would normally receive input from the deprived eye. These kittens also did not develop areas receiving input from both eyes, a feature needed for binocular vision. Hubel and Wiesel's experiments showed that the ocular dominance develops irreversibly[verification needed] early in childhood development. These studies opened the door for the understanding and treatment of childhood cataracts and strabismus. They were also important in the study of cortical plasticity.[15]
Awards and honors
Wiesel is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts,[16] and a foreign fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.[citation needed] He also holds the following awards and honors:
- Honorary degree, University of Pavia in 2006.
- Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon, 2009 (Japan).[17]
- Honorary Doctoral Degree in Science, University of Cambodia in 2010[18]
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1981[1]
- Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University, in 1978[citation needed]
- Elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1967[19]
- Dr. Jules C. Stein Award[4] in 1971
- Ferrier Medal and Lecture from the Royal Society in 1971
- Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award[4]in 1972
- Freidenwald Award[4] in 1975
- Karl Spencer Lashley Award[4] in 1977
- Ledlie Prize[4] in 1980
- Elected a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1980[20]
- Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1982[21]
- Elected a
- W.H. Helmerich III Award[4] in 1989
- Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience in 1993
- Helen Keller Prize for Vision Research[4] in 1996
- Presidential Award[4] in 1998
- David Rall Medal[22] in 2005
- National Medal of Science in 2005 (US).[23]
- Marshall M. Parks MD Medal of Excellence[4] in 2007
In 2001, Wiesel was nominated for a position on an advisory panel in the
Wiesel was among the eight 2005 recipients of the National Medal of Science.[23] In 2006, he was awarded the Ramon Y Cajal Gold Medal from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas). In 2007, both Wiesel and Hubel were awarded the Marshall M. Parks, MD Medal from The Children's Eye Foundation.
Personal life
Wiesel is married to Lizette Mususa Reyes (m. 2008).[4] Wiesel was married to Teeri Stenhammar from 1956-1970, Ann Yee from 1973-1981,[4] and author and editor Jean Stein from 1995-2007.[4] His daughter Sara Elisabeth was born in 1975.[4]
Human rights
Wiesel has done much work as a global human rights advocate. He served for 10 years (1994–2004) as chair of the
He is a founding member of the Israeli-Palestinian Science Organization, a nongovernmental nonprofit established in 2004 to support collaborative research between scientists in Israel and Palestine.[26]
See also
References
- ^ PMID 22841302.
- ^ a b "Professor Torsten Wiesel ForMemRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 11 November 2015.
- ^ a b "Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660-2015". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 15 October 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Torsten N. Wiesel - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- PMID 24172972.
- PMID 14403679.
- PMID 14449617.
- .
- ^ Multiple sources:
- ISBN 0195176189
- Berlucchi, Giovanni (2006). "Revisiting the 1981 Nobel Prize to Roger Sperry, David Hubel, and Torsten Wiesel on the occasion of the centennial of the Prize to Golgi and Cajal". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. Vol. 15, no. 4 (published December 2006). pp. 369–75. PMID 16997764.
- Shampo, M A; Kyle, R A (1994). "Torsten Wiesel--Swedish neurobiologist wins Nobel Prize". Mayo Clin. Proc. Vol. 69, no. 11 (published November 1994). p. 1026. PMID 7967753.
- Korczyn, A (1981). "[Nobel prize winners in medicine--1981 (Torsten Wiesel, David Hubel)]". Harefuah. Vol. 101, no. 12 (published 15 December 1981). pp. 378–9. PMID 7042494.
- Prasanna, Venkhatesh V (2011). "Do we learn to see?". Resonance: Journal of Science Education. Vol. 16, no. 1 (published 12 January 2011). pp. 88–99. .
- ^ Angier, Natalie. "Acting President of Rockefeller U. to Stay at Least 3 More Years," New York Times. 21 February 1992; Sengupta, Somini. "Princeton Cancer Expert Is New Rockefeller U. President," New York Times. 1 July 1998.
- ^ "| Human Frontier Science Program".
- ^ "Nibs 北京生命科学研究所". Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009. NIBS
- ^ [1] Archived 4 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Overbye, Dennis. "New York Academy of Sciences Elects a New Chief Executive," New York Times. 19 November 2002.
- ^ Wadsworth Publishing. [ISBN missing]
- ^ "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: Torsten Wiesel". Retrieved 1 May 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "2009 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals," p. 1.
- ^ "University of Cambodia". Retrieved 7 May 2018.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Torsten Nils Wiesel".
- ^ "Torsten N. Wiesel".
- ^ "APS Member History".
- ^ "David Rall Award Recipients". iom.nationalacademies.org. Archived from the original on 11 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
- ^ a b National Eye Institute: "NEI Grantees Receive National Medals of Science," Archived 2009-09-24 at the Wayback Machine 2007.
- PMID 15254502.
- ^ Seth Shulman (2007). Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration. University of California Press.
- ^ a b "Torsten N. Wiesel - Facts". nobelprize.org.
External links
- Media related to Torsten Wiesel at Wikimedia Commons
- Torsten Wiesel on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 1981 The Postnatal Development of the Visual Cortex and the Influence of Environment