The First Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, 1971: Reflections Approaching the 50Th Anniversary of the Society's Formation R
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This Accepted Manuscript has not been copyedited and formatted. The final version may differ from this version. Progressions The First Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, 1971: Reflections Approaching the 50th Anniversary of the Society's Formation R. Douglas Fields National Institutes of Health, NICHD DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3598-17.2018 Received: 27 July 2018 Revised: 5 September 2018 Accepted: 7 September 2018 Published: 21 September 2018 Conflict of Interest: The authors declare no competing financial interests. Supported by funds for intramural research, NICHD ZIAHD000713-22. Correspondence should be addressed to Address for correspondence: R. Douglas Fields, PhD, National Institutes of Health, NICHD, Bldg. 9, Room 1E126, MSC 0905, Bethesda, MD 20904, (301) 480-3209, [email protected] Cite as: J. Neurosci ; 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3598-17.2018 Alerts: Sign up at www.jneurosci.org/cgi/alerts to receive customized email alerts when the fully formatted version of this article is published. Accepted manuscripts are peer-reviewed but have not been through the copyediting, formatting, or proofreading process. Copyright © 2018 the authors 1 2 The First Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, 1971: 3 Reflections Approaching the 50th Anniversary of the Society’s Formation 4 by 5 R. Douglas Fields 6 National Institutes of Health, NICHD 7 8 9 10 11 Key words: Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, History of Neuroscience, Memory 12 Transfer, Vernon Mountcastle, Karl Pribram, Bernard Agranoff, James McConnell, Theodore 13 Bullock 14 Abbreviated title: The First SfN Annual Meeting, 1971 15 Page and word count: 20 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, 223 words in the abstract, 326 words in the 16 introduction, 879 words in discussion, total text word count: 4924 17 Conflict of interest: The author declares no conflicts of interest 18 Acknowledgements: Supported by funds for intramural research, NICHD ZIAHD000713-22. 19 20 Address for correspondence: 21 R. Douglas Fields, PhD 22 National Institutes of Health, NICHD 23 Bldg. 9, Room 1E126, MSC 0905 24 Bethesda, MD 20904 25 (301) 480-3209 26 [email protected] 1 27 28 29 Abstract 30 The formation of the Society for Neuroscience in 1969 was a scientific landmark, remarkable for 31 the conceptual transformation it represented by uniting all fields touching on the nervous system. 32 The scientific program of the first annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, held in 33 Washington, D.C. in 1971, is summarized here. By reviewing the scientific program from the 34 vantage point of the 50th anniversary of the Society for Neuroscience, the trajectory of research 35 now and into the future can be tracked to its origins, and the impact that the founding of the 36 society has had on basic and biomedical science is evident. The broad foundation of the society 37 was firmly cast at this first meeting, which embraced the full spectrum of science related to the 38 nervous system, emphasized the importance of public education, and attracted the most 39 renowned scientists of the day who were drawn together by a common purpose and eagerness to 40 share research and ideas. Some intriguing areas of investigation discussed at this first meeting 41 blossomed into new branches of research that flourish today, but others dwindled and have been 42 largely forgotten. Technological developments and advances in understanding of brain function 43 have been profound since 1971, but the success of the first meeting demonstrates how uniting 44 scientists across diversity fueled prosperity of the Society and propelled the vigorous 45 advancement of science. 46 47 Introduction 48 Prior to the formation of the Society for Neuroscience, in 1969, research concerning the 49 nervous system was conducted in several separate scientific disciplines, including anatomy, 2 50 physiology, psychiatry, psychology, neurology, and zoology, but the concept that all of these 51 pursuits could be combined into one coherent new field of science was revolutionary. The 52 history of the formation of the Society for Neuroscience has been reviewed elsewhere (See The 53 Creation of Neuroscience, SfN Website), but the scientific program of that first meeting is a time 54 capsule preserving the state of brain science at a pivotal point in history. The pioneering 55 neuroscientists meeting in 1971 grappled with many of the most fundamental issues in brain 56 function at a time of comparatively rudimentary techniques and limited understanding of the 57 brain. In the fullness of time, it is now possible to see retrospectively how the early evidence 58 available, some of it presented at this meeting, was misinterpreted and projected into new grand 59 hypotheses that were constrained and misdirected by the limited information available at the 60 time. Today, the field of neuroscience has grown into one of the most vigorous areas of 61 biomedical research, spanning broadly from mathematical modeling, to molecular, cellular, 62 systems, and behavioral levels, but all of these scientific elements of what we now recognize as 63 “neuroscience” were represented at that first meeting. 64 This review article provides a synopsis and analysis of neuroscience research presented at 65 the first annual meeting. Held in the age of typewriters, there is no digital copy of the first 66 annual meeting program, but a personal copy of the blue, 288-page, program booklet bearing the 67 inked stamp and signature of Alan D. Grinnell, Dept. of Biology at UCLA on the cover, was 68 preserved in the archives at the Society for Neuroscience headquarters in Washington, D.C. 69 Grinnell is well-known for his research on synaptic transmission, notably at the neuromuscular 70 junction, and fortunately his personal copy of the Program and Abstracts of that first meeting 71 survives (Figure 1). 72 3 73 The Beginning of SfN Annual Meetings 74 The first Annual Meeting was held on October 27-30, 1971, at the Shoreham Hotel in 75 Washington DC. The registration fee was $20.00 for members and $5.00 for students. Adjusted 76 for inflation, $20 would be $126 today (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). The more than 77 quadrupled registration cost of $550 for the 2018 Annual Meeting, might reflect in part the 78 enormous success of the Society, which has grown so large its gatherings can only be 79 accommodated at the largest convention centers in the country, drawing on all hotels in the 80 vicinity for housing during the week-long annual event (Figure 2). In contrast, that first meeting 81 was an intimate gathering of 1,395 scientists, including 390 students, held in one hotel, where 82 everyone could interact over the course of three days. “You could go to everything,” David 83 Lange, an electrophysiologist at NINDS, now retired, recalled about that first meeting. 84 It is notable that this first annual meeting included a press room, welcoming journalists to 85 promote research on the brain to the general public. Today, the press room at the annual meeting 86 is a buzz with 300 registered journalists from around the world, furiously typing up newspaper 87 and magazine articles on laptops, others with microphone in hand and wearing headphones 88 recording TV and radio interviews with scientists, and attending well-organized press 89 conferences where leading scientists in “hot topic” areas of research are invited in a panel 90 discussion to present their latest findings directly to the press. Likewise, it is notable that this 91 first meeting devoted one morning session to education. A belief in promoting understanding of 92 neuroscience in medical, graduate, and undergraduate education was one of the prime reasons for 93 forming the Society for Neuroscience, and the mission of academic and public education about 94 brain science remains paramount. 95 4 96 Synopsis of the First Sessions 97 There were two types of sessions at this first meeting: long format “Selected Topics 98 Seminars,” held for two-and one-half hours in the morning, and short “Contributed Papers” 99 grouped thematically and held in the afternoons (Table 1). The Contributed Papers sessions in 100 the afternoons resembled the short talks in nanosymposia at today’s Annual Meeting, but the 101 Selected Topic Sessions varied widely in format, mixing together what would be considered 102 Special Lectures, Symposia, and nanosymposia today. Typically, each Selected Topics Seminar 103 session included one or two “Introductory Lectures” by luminaries in the field, typically 104 followed by a few shorter contributed papers related to that research topic, and sometimes closed 105 by a “Summarizing Lecture,” but some of the Selected Topic Sessions were comprised entirely 106 of three “Invited lectures” by leading neuroscientists, and others were all short, approximately 107 ten-minute presentations of Selected Contributed Papers that pertained to topic of the session. 108 Three Selected Topics Sessions that focused on different subject areas were held 109 simultaneously in the mornings, and 9-10 Contributed Papers sessions were held simultaneously 110 in the afternoons. All the presentations were held in rooms in close proximity within the same 111 hotel, so attendees could easily pass from room-to-room to attend any talk they wished. 112 The first scientific presentation at the first SfN meeting was Chaired by Vernon 113 Mountcastle, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a session on psychophysics, 114 titled “Sensation and Perception: Psychophysical Measurements and Brain Mechanics,” and 115 Mountcastle