Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel to discuss the 'New Science of the Mind': Nobel Laureate Torsten Wiesel to introduce Kandel at Readers & Writers event on March 2
[17 February 2006 - New York Academy of Sciences - EurekAlert!] How did Eric Kandel, a native of Vienna who majored in history and later escaped from the Nazis become one of the world's most famous neuroscientists? How did his career evolve from early studies of reflexes in the lowly squid to the founding of a bioengineering firm whose work could some day develop treatments for Alzheimer's? How did his personal quest to understand learning and memory by studying four different disciplines - behaviorist psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and molecular biology -intersect with the emergence of a new science of the mind?
To discuss how his profound insights into thought, perception, action, recollection, and mental illness revolutionized our understanding of learning and memory, Nobel Laureate Eric Kandel will present a lecture, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind, based on his new book of the same title. The event, part of the Academy's "Readers & Writers" series highlighting important new science books, will be held on March 2 at the New York Academy of Sciences, 2 East 63rd Street. Dr. Kandel will describe how his personal and intellectual life influenced the course of his career and lead to groundbreaking research that culminated in the 2000 Nobel Prize for his work on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons. His book begins with a recollection of his formative years in Vienna. Captivated by history and psychoanalysis, Kandel went on to study neurobiology and the biological processes of memory. His multifaceted perspective was the foundation for his path-breaking research that will continue to dominate modern thought--not only in science but in culture at large. Neuroscientist Thomas Jessell and Nobel Laureate Torsten N. Wiesel will introduce the author.
DATE: March 2, 2006 TIME: 6 to 7 p.m. PLACE: New York Academy of Science headquarters, 2 East 63rd St., New York, NY
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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Eric Kandel is University Professor at Columbia University and a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He won the 2000 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, which he shared with Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard. His other honors include the National Medal of Science, the Wolf Prize, the Gairdner International Award, the Charles A. Dana Award, and the Lasker Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Thomas Jessell is professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and a member of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. He is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
Torsten Wiesel is director of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior and president emeritus of The Rockefeller University. He is also secretary general of the Human Frontier Science Program, president of the International Brain Research Organization, and chairman of the Board of the New York Academy of Sciences. Dr. Wiesel was co-recipient with David Hubel of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Reception and book sale to follow.