Wiesel (Wiesel), Thorsten

genus. June 3, 1924
Swedish scientist and neurobiologist Torsten Nils Wiesel was born in Uppsala, the son of Fritz C. Wiesel, chief psychiatrist of the hospital Bekomberga Institute of Psychiatry in Stockholm, and Anna-Lisa (Bentzer) Wiesel. In his youth in. his family lived at the hospital and was educated at a private school in Stockholm. He considered himself 'rather lazy, naughty student, interested mainly in sports'. In high school he was captain of the school team athletics.
In 1941, Mr.. V. enrolled in medical school at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. There, in the laboratory of Carl Gustaf Bernhard, he participated in the research function of the nervous system, and also received clinical skills in psychiatry. In 1954, Mr.. in the Karolinska Institute he was awarded a medical degree, in the same year he was enrolled at the institute and an assistant professor of physiology in the Department of Child Psychiatry, Karolinska Hospital.
The following year. accepted an invitation to undergo training at the Wilmer Institute, where he worked under the leadership of a major specialist in the field of neurophysiology of eye Kyufflera Stephen, who continued important studies initiated X. Keffer Hartlaynom and Ragnar Granit. Two years in. he became an assistant professor in the physiology of organs of vision in medical school at Johns Hopkins.
Kyuffler studied nerve activity (or mikroelektricheskie level) of nerve cells in the retina (the inner shell of the eyeball) cat. He found that nerve, or ganglion cells of the retina react to light contrasts and do not respond to uniform illumination. He also described the receptive fields of cells (area of the retina), which when stimulated lead to a change in the activity of nerve cells. Kyuffler found that the activity of ganglion cells, or increased or inhibited during illumination of the retinal receptor field point light source. If the central spot of light stimulates the activity of the cells of the retina, the light falling on the surrounding that spot retina, inhibits the activity of the cells, and vice versa.
When David G. Hubel in 1958. came to the laboratory Kyufflera, he and B. decided to study the receptive fields of nerve cells in the visual cortex. This area represents one of the many functional areas of the cerebral cortex, which is carried out thematic analysis. Visual Analyzer starts with the photoreceptor (light sensitive) cells of the retina, the rods and cones. Nerve endings rods and cones are projected onto the other cells of the retina. From these cells the nerve impulses travel through the optic nerve in the lateral geniculate body (subcortical), which are transmitted in the cortical center of vision. The visual cortex, consisting of many millions of nerve cells, arranged in several layers, decodes neural signals coming from the retina, and provides an analysis of visual information.
. One of the first experiments in
. Hubel and clarified the function of the visual analyzer. Introducing a miniature electrode used to record the electrical activity of nerve cells in the visual cortex Cats, they recorded the spontaneous nerve activity, or mikroelektricheskie currents of the nerve cell. Researchers have experimented with various visual stimuli in an attempt to cause mikroelektricheskuyu activity in the cells of the cerebral cortex. Once Hubel accidentally moved the microscope slide for the receptive field of a nerve cell, containing a microelectrode. Suddenly the cell discharged early. Initially, scientists were puzzled, but soon realized that nerve cells of the cerebral cortex responds to the light strip of glass. While retinal cells in the experiments Kyufflera react to light spot, the nerve cells in the visual cortex respond to linear light stimuli.
In 1959, Mr.. Kyuffler became a professor of pharmacology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. V. was appointed assistant professor of physiology at Harvard, and in 1964. - Professor of Physiology. In the same year at Harvard was a department of neurobiology at the head of Kyufflerom.
Continuing his studies in the new department, in. and Hubel microelectrode was placed in the visual cortex of cats and monkeys, recording the spontaneous activity of nerve cells with the microelectrode. Their task was to stimulate the retinal field of the linear strip of light at different angles until you can find the most effective incentives for the series of nerve cells along the path of the electrode. Sometimes they injected electrode in a vertical direction, while it would have been perpendicular to the surface of the brain, in other cases, the electrode was carried out at an angle to the surface of the brain. After opening the experimental animals, researchers compared the results of measurements of neural activity with histological data. They also developed a method of introducing into the eyeball of radioactive substances, which are then moved along the optic nerve from the retina to the visual cortex of the brain, helping to more fully explore its neuroanatomy.
In. and Hubel found that the visual cortex is organized in the form of periodic vertical systems, which they called the dominant visual columns and orientation columns. These columns of nerve cells produce the necessary processing information transmitted from the retina to the visual cortex. Dominant visual bollards combine neuronal impulses from both eyes, while the orientation - are transforming the circular receptive fields of the retina and lateral geniculate body in the linear. V. and Hubel found that in the information processing involved a hierarchy of simple, complex and very complex nerve cells, which, according to these scholars, operated under the principle of increasing, or the progressive convergence. This principle explains how the visual cortex can create complete images of the many individual bits of information coming from the neurons of the retina. The researchers suggested that other functional areas of the cerebral cortex may be organized similarly.
Jobs. Hubel and was of great significance for the treatment of eye diseases, especially congenital cataracts. They believed that such a cataract should be removed in early childhood, if the patient's vision is preserved.
In 1968. V. became a professor of neurobiology at Harvard University, and in 1974. He was elected to the post of Professor of Neurobiology, established by Robert Winthrop. In 1973, Mr.. V. Kyufflera replaced as head of the department of neurobiology.
Half of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1981. was awarded in. Hubel, and 'for their discoveries concerning the principles of information processing in neural structures of the brain', the second half of the prize was awarded to Roger Y. Sperry. Concluding the Nobel lecture, in. said that 'innate mechanisms of the visual analyzer provides a high-bonds, but for their maintenance and development require a visual experience early in life'. Opening in. Hubel and explain one of the most hidden mechanisms of the brain - a way to decrypt the cells of the cerebral cortex of visual signals.
In 1983. V. He was appointed professor of neurobiology at Rockefeller University, established by Brooke Astor Vinsetom.
In 1956, Mr.. V. married Teri Stenhammer, and in 1970 he. they separated. He married Ann Yee, with whom divorced in 1981
Among the prizes and awards in. - Lewis Rozenstila Prize for outstanding work in basic medical research, awarded by the University Braydensa (1972), a commemorative medal, John C. Friedenwald Association for the Study of vision and ophthalmology (1975), . Karl Spencer Lashley Award of the American Philosophical Society (1977), . Prize Louise Gross-Horwitz, Columbia University (1978), . Dickson Prize in Medicine University of Pittsburgh (1979) and George Ledley Prize at Harvard University (1980),
. V. - Member of the American Physiological Society, the American Philosophical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American National Academy of Sciences. Physiological Society of Great Britain and the Royal Society of London.