Torsten Wiesel | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Wiesel in 2010 | |
| 7th President ofRockefeller University | |
| In office 1991–1998 | |
| Preceded by | David Baltimore |
| Succeeded by | Arnold J. Levine |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Torsten Nils Wiesel (1924-06-03)3 June 1924 (age 101) Uppsala, Sweden |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| Scientific career | |
| Alma mater | Karolinska Institute |
| Known for | Visual system |
| Awards | |
| Institutions | |
Torsten Nils Wiesel (born 3 June 1924) is a Swedishneurophysiologist. WithDavid H. Hubel,[5][6][7] he received the 1981Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine,[4] for their discoveries concerning information processing in thevisual system; the prize was shared withRoger W. Sperry[8] for his independent research on the cerebral hemispheres.[9]
Wiesel was born inUppsala, Sweden, in 1924, the youngest of five children. In 1947, he began his scientific career inCarl Gustaf Bernhard's laboratory at theKarolinska Institute, where he received his medical degree in 1954. He went on to teach in the institute's department of physiology and worked in the child psychiatry unit of the Karolinska Hospital. In 1955 he moved to theUnited States to work atJohns Hopkins School of Medicine underStephen Kuffler. Wiesel began a fellowship in ophthalmology, and in 1958 he became an assistant professor. That same year, he metDavid Hubel, beginning a collaboration that would last over twenty years. In 1959 Wiesel and Hubel moved toHarvard University. He became an instructor in pharmacology at Harvard Medical School, beginning a 24-year career with the university. He became professor in the new department of neurobiology in 1968 and its chair in 1973.
In 1983, Wiesel joined the faculty ofRockefeller 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 co-director of the Shelby White and Leon Levy Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior.
From 2000 to 2009, Wiesel served as Secretary-General of the Human Frontier Science Program,[11] an organization headquartered in Strasbourg, France, which supports international and interdisciplinary collaboration between investigators in the life sciences. Wiesel also has chaired the scientific advisory board of China's National Institute of Biological Science (NIBS)[12] in Beijing, and co-chairs the board of governors of theOkinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST). He is also member of the boards of thePew Center on Global Climate Change, theHospital for Special Surgery, and an advisory board member of the European Brain Research Institute (EBRI).[13]
Wiesel has also served as chair of the board of theAaron Diamond AIDS Research Center (1995–2001), president of theSociety for Neuroscience (1978–1979), and theInternational Brain Research Organization (1998–2004). He was chair of the board of governors of theNew York Academy of Sciences (2001–2006); and he was the academy's chairman and interim director in 2001–2002.[14]
The Hubel and Wiesel experiments greatly expanded the scientific knowledge of sensory processing. In one experiment, done in 1959, they inserted amicroelectrode into theprimary visual cortex of an anesthetized cat. They then projected patterns of light and dark on a screen in front of the cat. They found that someneurons fired rapidly when presented with lines at one angle, while others responded best to another angle. They called these neurons "simple cells." Still other neurons, which they termed "complex cells," responded best to lines of a certain angle moving in one direction. These studies showed how the visual system builds an image from simple stimuli into more complex representations.[15]
Hubel and Wiesel were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981 for their work onocular 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 forbinocular vision andstereopsis. 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 childhoodcataracts andstrabismus. They were also important in the study of corticalplasticity.[15]
Wiesel is a member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences, theSerbian 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:
In 2001, Wiesel was nominated for a position on an advisory panel in theNational Institutes of Health to advise on assisting research in developing countries. RepublicanTommy Thompson, who at the time was Secretary of Health and Human Services, rejected Wiesel. In addition to Wiesel, Thompson's office rejected another 18 (out of 26) nominations and in return recommended other scientists thatwhistleblower Gerald Keusch described in an interview as "lightweights" with "no scientific credibility". When Wiesel's name was rejected, an official in Thompson's office told Keusch that Wiesel had "signed too many full-page letters in The New York Times critical of President Bush." This incident was cited by the advocacy groupUnion of Concerned Scientists as part of a report detailing their allegations of abuse of science under PresidentGeorge W. Bush's administration.[24][25]
Wiesel was among the eight 2005 recipients of theNational Medal of Science.[23] In 2006, he was awarded the Ramon Y Cajal Gold Medal from theSpanish 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.
Wiesel is married to Lizette Mususa Reyes (m. 2008).[4] Wiesel was married to Teeri Stenhammar from 1956 to 1970, Ann Yee from 1973 to 1981,[4] and author and editorJean Stein from 1995 to 2007.[4] His daughter Sara Elisabeth was born in 1975.[4]
Wieselturned 100 on 3 June 2024.[26]
Wiesel has done much work as a global human rights advocate. He served for 10 years (1994–2004) as chair of theCommittee of Human Rights of the National Academies of Science in the US, as well as the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies.[27] He was awarded the David Rall Medal from theInstitute of Medicine in 2005, in recognition of this important work.[citation needed] In 2009, Wiesel was awarded the Grand Cordon Order of the Rising Sun Medal in Japan.
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.[27]
Media related toTorsten Wiesel at Wikimedia Commons
including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 1981The Postnatal Development of the Visual Cortex and the Influence of Environment| Chemistry |
|  |
|---|---|---|
| Literature |
| |
| Peace |
| |
| Physics |
| |
| Physiology or Medicine |
| |
| Economic Sciences |
| |
