|
HOW WE LEARN; HOW WE REMEMBER: TOWARD AN UNDERSTANDING OF BRAIN AND NEURAL SYSTEMS
Selected Papers of Leon N Cooper
edited by Leon N Cooper (Brown University)
Table of Contents (146k)
General Introduction (52k)
Part I. Physiological Basis of Learning and Memory Storage (533k)
Leon Cooper was born in 1930 in New York where he attended Columbia University (AB 1951: AM 1953: PhD 1954). He became a member of the Institute for Advanced Study (1954–55) after which he was a research associate at the University of Illinois (1955–57) and later an assistant professor at the Ohio State University (1957–58). He joined Brown University in 1958 where he became Henry Ledyard Goddard University Professor (1966 – 74) and where he is presently the Thomas J W Watson, Sr. Professor of Science (1974–) and Director of the Institute for Brain and Neural Systems. In 1972 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics (with J Bardeen and J R Schrieffer) for his work on the theory of superconductivity which was completed while still in his 20s. In 1968, he was awarded the Comstock Prize (with J R Schrieffer) of the National Academy of Sciences. The Award of Excellence, Graduate Faculties Alumni of Columbia University and Descartes Medal, Academie de Paris, Universite Rene Descartes were conferred on Professor Cooper in the mid 1970s. In 1985 Professor Cooper received the John Jay Award of Columbia College and in 1990 the Columbia University award for Distinguished Achievement.
Leon Cooper's somewhat peripatetic career has resulted in work in quantum field theory, superconductivity, the quantum theory of measurement as well as the mechanisms that underly learning and memory. He has written numerous essays on a variety of subjects as well as a highly regarded introduction to the ideas and methods of physics for non-physicists. Among the many accolades, he has received (some deserved) one he likes specially is the comment of an anonymous reviewer who characterized him as “a nonsense physicist”.
This compilation of papers presents the evolution of his thinking on mechanisms of learning, memory storage and higher brain function. The first half proceeds from early models of memory and synaptic plasticity to a concrete theory that has been put into detailed correspondence with experiment and leads to the very current exploration of the molecular basis for learning and memory storage. The second half outlines his efforts to investigate the properties of neural network systems and to explore to what extent they can be applied to real world problems.
In all this collection, hopefully, provides a coherent, no-nonsense, account of a line of research that leads to present investigations into the biological basis for learning and memory storage and the information processing and classification properties of neural systems.
|
