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Caltech News 28(3), 11 Ered, Ro Regenerate Cormecrions to Their Roger Sperry with His Work." Sperry Was Also an Avid Original Targets

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Caltech News 28(3), 11 Ered, Ro Regenerate Cormecrions to Their Roger Sperry with His Work. specificity of neural reconnection—that 1981 interview. "He soilpted phe• is, by the ability of neurons, when sev• nomenally. The Sperrys' home is filled Caltech News 28(3), 11 ered, ro regenerate cormecrions to their Roger Sperry with his work." Sperry was also an avid original targets. This work led in the paleontologist, with an extensive col• early 19(50s to a new theory explaining lection of prehistoric moUusks. 1913-1994 how neurons grow, assemble, and orga• "He was one of the premier experi• nize themselves in the brain by means mental neurobiologists of his time," Roger W. Spetiy, 1981 Nobel laure• of amazingly intricate, genetically said Norman Davidson, the Norman ate in physiology or medicine and the determined chemical codes. Chandler Professor of Chemical Biol• Institute's Board of Trustees Professor Sperry is best known for his "left- ogy, Emeritus, and executive oflScer for of Psychobiology, Emeritus, <;lied on brain/right-btain" research, work that biology at Caltech. "Those of us who April 17,1994, of a heart attack and of has had an incalculable impact on fields have kpown him since those early years complications associated with a neuro• ranging fimm neurophysiology to psy• will always remember the courage and muscular degenerative disease from chology to education. Working in the tenacity with which he continued to which he had suffered for many years. 1950s and early 1960s with patients carry on his work in later years in spite He was 80. who had had their corpus callosum— of a debilitating degenerative disease. A native of Hartford, Connecticut, the bundle of fibers connecting the left It was an inspiration ro all who knew Sperry earned his bachelor's degree in and right cerebral hemispheres—surgi• him." English literature from Oberlin College cally cut in an effort to control epilep• The late Caltech professor is sur• in 1935, then focused his attention on tic seizures, he demonstrated how the vived by his wife of 45 years. Norma psychology, earning his master's in that two hemispheres function, indepen• Deupree Sperry, of Pasadena; his dently and in concett. The most strik• brother, Russell L Sperry, of Bend, ing of his discoveries and the one with Oregon; his son, Glenn Tad Sperry, of which his name continues to be most Philadelphia; his daughrer, Janeth widely associated is the finding that Hope Sperry, of Cleveland; and two under certain conditions, each hemi• grandchildren. sphere has the seeming capacity to The fiunily asks that donations in behave like a separate consciousness, Sperry's memory be made to rhe Mus• with the left side of the brain generally cular Dystrophy Association, or ro the more specialized for verbal and analyti• Children's Lung Fund, Qeveland, cal* thinking, and the right side for Ohio. spatial and visual thought. In latet years, Sperry's own ever- active brain turned increasingly to philosophy, particularly to issues asso• ciated with the mind—brain question— that is, the relarionship between the observable physiological structure of the brain and the quality of subjective, conscious thought that characterizes the mind. In pondering these ques• tions, Sperry broke with the behaviorist school, which then dominated psychol• ogy and the behavioral sciences, and advocated a new approach that placed far greater emphasis on the role of men• tal states and experiences in influencing field in 1937, also 6om Oberlin. For the physiological functioning of the his doctorate, he studied zoology, earn• brain. He first set out these ideas in ing his degree from the University of 1965 in what the January 1994 issue of Chicago in 1941. HumaMnd Advajicmg, which was dedi• Sperry's academic career was as cated to Sperry, described as "a remark• diverse as his educational background. able series of philosophical After graduaring from Chicago, he held papers"; and he continued to write and fellowships at Harvard from 1941 to publish provocative and influential 1946, where he worked in the Yerkes writings on the nature of consciousness Laboratories of Primate Biology, and he up until the time of his death. It was performed military service from 1942 for this work, more than for his studies to 1945 by taking part in the federal of vision, neuronal growth, or split- government's Medical Research Project brain parients, that Sperry wished most on Nerve Injuries. After the war he to be remembered. taught as an assistant professor in the For his work on hemispheric special• University of Chicago's department of ization, Sperry was awarded the 1981 anatomy until 1952. During 1952 and Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, 1953, he served as associate professor of along with David H. Hubel and psychology at the same institution Torsten N. Wiesel. He also received while simultaneously serving as the the National Medal of Science in 1989 section chief for neurological diseases from President Bush, the Wolf Prize in and blindness at the National Institutes Medicine and the Albert Lasker Medi• of Health. In 1954 he became the cal Research Award in 1979, and the Hixon Professor of Psychobiology at California Scientist of the Year Award Caltech, where he remained for the in 1972, among many other honors. next forty years. He retired from teach• In addition to his talents as a re• ing as professor emeritus In 1984. searcher, Sperry was "the most artistic Among Sperry's many accomplish- person I've ever known," said long-time menrs is research he carried out in the laboratory assistant Lois MacBird in a early 1950s showing the nervous sys• tem to be characterized by a very high Chicago nH6unc April 23, 1994 Saturday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION ROGER SPERRY, 80 STUDIED FUNCTIONS OF HUMAN BRAIN By Kenan Heise, Tribune Staff Writer. Through study of animals and human patients who had had the connections be• Roger W. Sperry, 80, a Nobel laureate tween the right and left sides of their and professor emeritus of psychobiology at brains severed, he demonstrated the the California Institute of Tech• functions of the two hemispheres of the nology, was honored for his research in brain. His research and observations right-side, left-side brain functions and helped establish concepts now regularly learning. He was a former professor at the taught in the areas of art, education and University of Chicago, where he had re• philosophy. ceived his doctorate in zoology. Other work he did explained how neurons A resident of Pasadena, Calif., he died use chemical codes to grow, assemble and Sunday in Huntington ^ylemorial Hospital organize themselves following hereditary in Pasadena. patterns. Professor Sperry, a native of Hartford, Professor Sperry shared the 1981 Conn., received his bachelor's and mas• Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine ter's degrees from Oberlin College. He with David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel. He earned his doctorate at the U. of C. in also received the National Medal of Sci• 1941. During World War II, his military ence, the Wolf Prize in Medicine and the duty involved medical research on nen/e Albert Lasker Medical Research Award. injuries. Survivors include his wife, Norma; a He taught after the war, first as an as• son, Glenn; a daughter, Janeth; a brother; sistant professor and then an associate and two grandchildren. professor at the U. of C. He then was sec• tion chief for neurological diseases and Services are pending. blindness at the National Institute of Health and was a professor at Cal Tech GRAPHIC: PHOTO; PHOTO: Roger W. Sperry from 1954 to 1984. in 1979. Date: 4/19/94 IpZ--; Page: Al ^^"d^" Pasadena Star-News Jump: A5 "~—-—— Brain research pioneer Sperry dead at 80 Nobel winner taught at Caltech By Roberto Ceniceros sidered nearly useless. STAFF WBTTER Sperry's results substantiated that analytic process and higher PASADENA — Retired Caltech verbal skills tend to be located in professor Roger Wolcott Sperry. a the left hemisphere, while the 1381 Nobel Prize winner for dis• right side is more holistic arid coveries- iiliowing that the two copes better with spatial relation• hemispheres of the brain function ships. independently, has died of a heart Sperry also received the Na• attack. tional Medal of Science in 1989 Sperry, a Pasadena resident, from then-President George Bush. was 80 when he died Sunday at In the 1940s, Sperry researched Huntington- Memorial Hospital in the functions of brain cells and PasadeiEi Memorial services were vision. In the 196(3s he infroduced pending. groundwork for a theory explain• Sperry's work ethic drove him ing how neurons grow, assemble to research and write until his and organize themselves in the hospitalization April 11," friends brain by- means of chemical codes . and relatives said yesterday. For confroUed by heredity. the last 25 years, he suEfered from Before his death, Sperry had a degenerative nerve disease. been studying the role of con• sciousness and its importance in "He was so single-minded that preserving values, said Norma if he was working, that was all he Deupree Sperry, his wife of 45 thou^t about," said his assistant, years. Mary JpfFriPs "I would say, 'See you tomorrow,' and he would He was concerned about the very meticulously put his middle earth's condition and population finger over his index finger. I growth His wife said he beUeved guess he was saying, 'With any people should set values that pre• luck.' " serve the quahty of life. , Sperry won the Nobel Prize in Sperry continued working at medicine-physiology for his pio• Caltech as a professor emeritus of neering research involving "spht- psychobiology after his ofBcial re• brain" patients whose left and tirement in 1984. right brain hemispheres were siir- About six months ago, he began gicaHy cut He showed how the using a Walker Jeffiles said Sperry two brain hemispheres function held a pencil with great difficulty independently and together.
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