Richard G.M. Morris | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Graham Michael Morris (1948-06-27)27 June 1948 (age 77) |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Morris water navigation task |
| Scientific career | |
| Awards | 2016Brain Prize |
| Fields | Neuroscience |
| Institutions | University of Edinburgh |
Richard Graham Michael Morris,CBE FRS FRSE (born 27 June 1948),[1] is a Britishneuroscientist. He is known for developing theMorris water navigation task,[2] for proposing the concept ofsynaptic tagging (along with Julietta U. Frey (formerly published under Uwe Frey), and for his work on the function of thehippocampus.[3][4]
He is the director of the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems (Edinburgh)[5] and the Wolfson Professor of Neuroscience at theUniversity of Edinburgh.[6] Since 1994 he has been a fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh[7] and since 1997, he has been afellow of theRoyal Society.[8] Morris was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire in 2007.[1]
Morris, together withTim Bliss (Francis Crick Institute) andGraham Collingridge (University of Bristol) were named as winners of the 2016Brain Prize for their discoveries about the way synaptic connections in the hippocampus are strengthened by stimulation. The process, known aslong-term potentiation (LTP), forms the basis of the ability to learn and to remember.[9]
He was elected Member of theNational Academy of Sciences in April 2020.[10]
Morris received hisBA innatural science fromTrinity Hall, Cambridge andD.Phil. from theUniversity of Sussex in 1973. He was a lecturer at theUniversity of St Andrews from 1977 to 1986 where he developed the Morris water navigation task. He moved to theUniversity of Edinburgh in 1986.
