Today
I would like to introduce a new initiative of this blog: A moment or two with the scientist.
Every few weeks, I
will be sharing a video-interview of a particular scientist that is of interest
to the field of physiology, neuroscience, temperature regulation and
somatosensory neurophysiology. These video-interviews are publicly available because
of initiatives from the Society of Neuroscience and the American Physiological
Society.
The Society for Neuroscience's autobiography series, "The
History of Neuroscience in Autobiography," (https://www.sfn.org/about/history-of-neuroscience/autobiographical-videos-of-prominent-neuroscientists)
details the lives and discoveries of eminent senior neuroscientists. The
American Physiological Society's "Living History Project" ( http://www.the-aps.org/mm/Membership/Living-History.aspx)
was designed to create an archival video record of senior members of the APS
who have made outstanding contributions to the science of physiology, as well
as the profession.
Personally,
I find these videos useful and inspiring for two main reasons. First, they
allow junior scientists like myself to be “exposed” to scientists who I might
have only read about and never meet because of either chronological or
situational reasons. In my view, “seeing and hearing the mind behind the paper”
allows for a more intimate understanding of these scientists’ work. Second, I
find that what these interviews contain in terms of memories, recollection and
views on science, is particularly inspiring for junior scientists like myself who
are at the beginning of their academic careers. Seeing and hearing from the “human
being” behind the eminent scientist helps putting things into perspective and
understanding that things that are not clear now might make sense further down
the line…
So
today, the inaugural video of this series see a personal interview with Prof Vernon
Mountcastle.
Mountcastle
was Professor Emeritus of Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and discovered
and characterized the columnar organization of the cerebral cortex in the
1950s. His work has been instrumental for the understanding of somatosensory
function in primates and humans. Furthermore, his invention of the “combined
experiment”, where human psychophysics is performed along with
neurophysiological recordings in primates, has been a paradigm shift in the
exploration of the function of the nervous system in humans. A must see for all
physiologists and neuroscientists and the ones interested in somatosensory
neuroscience.
Enjoy!
Davide
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