Stephen Kuffler

Stephen W. Kuffler
File:Stephen W Kuffler.png
Born	(1913-08-24)August 24, 1913 Hungary
Died	United States
Residence	Hungary United States
Nationality	Hungary United States
Fields	Neurophysiology Neurobiology
Institutions	University of Sydney University of Chicago Johns Hopkins University Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole Harvard University Salk Institute
Alma mater	Vienna Medical School
Doctoral advisor	John Carew Eccles
Doctoral students	David Hubel Torsten Wiesel Eric Kandel John Graham Nicholls Horace Barlow Yuh-Nung Jan Lily Jan
Known for	Neurophysiology Neurobiology
Notable awards	Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1972) Dickson Prize (1974) Member of National Academy of Sciences Foreign Member of Royal Society

Stephen William Kuffler ForMemRS (August 24 Tap, Hungary, 1913 – October 11, 1980) was a pre-eminent Hungarian-American neurophysiologist. He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Neuroscience". Kuffler, alongside noted Nobel Laureates Sir John Eccles and Sir Bernard Katz gave research lectures at the University of Sydney, strongly influencing its intellectual environment while working at Sydney Hospital. He founded the Harvard Neurobiology department in 1966, and made numerous seminal contributions to our understanding of vision, neural coding, and the neural implementation of behavior. He is known for his research on neuromuscular junctions in frogs, presynaptic inhibition, and the neurotransmitter GABA. In 1972, he was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University.

Honors and awards

Kuffler was widely recognized as a truly original and creative neuroscientist. In addition to numerous prizes, honorary degrees, and special lectureships from countries over the world, Steve was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1964 and to the Royal Society as Foreign Member in 1971. In 1964 he was named the Robert Winthrop professor of neurophysiology and neuropharmacology. From 1966 to 1974 he was the Robert Winthrop professor of neurobiology, and in 1974 he became John Franklin Enders university professor.

A detailed, affectionate, and authoritative account of Stephen Kuffler's life and work has been provided by Sir Bernard Katz (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 28, pp. 225–59, 1982) and in a book entitled Steve, Remembrances of Stephen W. Kuffler, compiled and introduced by U. J. McMahan (Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer Associates, 1990). An account of Kuffler's work is given by Eric R. Kandel, In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind (New York: Norton, 2006), stating: 'I don't think anyone on the American scene since then has been as influential or as beloved as Steve Kuffler.'

See also

• Seymour Benzer
• David Hubel
• Eric R. Kandel
• David Rioch
• Gunther Stent
• Torsten Wiesel
• Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize

External links

• Stephen W. Kuffler's biographical memoir at the National Academy of Sciences.
• The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize
• National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir