History of Neurology DAVID H HUBEL MD TORSTEN

History of Neurology DAVID H. HUBEL MD & TORSTEN WIESEL MD (1926 -2013) (1924 -PRESENT) APRIL 10 TH, 2017 NEUROLOGY RESIDENT MORNING REPORT

DAVID H. HUBEL (1926 -2013) • • B Ontario, Canada Mc. Gill Med school & Neurology residency 1959 -Hopkins Neurology Fellowship to of P&L for the (WRAIR) Korean War-drafted into Army-Walter Reed Army Institution Research game – Began recording from primary visual cortex of awake cats – Invented modern metal electrodes – Measured firing of brain cells in cats as they watched moving spot on screen Learned basic machinist skills 1958 -Hopkins: began collaborating with Dr. Wiesel – Both recruited to Harvard; collaborated 20 years 1959 -Hubel spent career at HMS till he died

Torsten Wiesel MD 1924 -present • • • B Uppsala, Sweden MD- Karolinska Institute Fac-Physiology & child Psychiatry 1955 -Hopkins under Dr. Stephen Kuffler 1958 -Fellowship in Ophthalmology – Then Asst Prof – Met Dr. Hubel 1959 - Moved to Harvard with Hubel – Instructor in Pharmacology 1968 -Prof Neurobiology; Chair 1971 1983 - Rockefeller University 1991 -1998 President of RU Still at RU

David Hubel MD & Torsten Wiesel MD Discoveries • • • Neurophysiology of vision Information processing in visual system Cells in occipital cortex respond to straight lines, movement, and contrast Some cells fire rapidly in response to horizontal lines, others to vertical lines or angles (edge motion, stereoscopic, color detectors) Cells with similar functions are organized into columns (ocular dominance columns)

David Hubel MD & Torsten Wiesel MD Discoveries. • • Vision does not develop normally if the brain fails to make connections with the eye early in life. Experiments; sealed eye shut at birth in cats. Blind in that eye & light not enough to provide stimulation

David Hubel MD & Torsten Wiesel MD Discoveries • • • Columns in the primary visual cortex receiving inputs from non-blind eye took over the areas that would normally receive input from the deprived eye Ocular dominance develops irreversibly in early childhood Implications for childhood cataracts and strabismus Now we operate on infants born with cataracts early in life to prevent vascular Also now treat strabismus earlier

David Hubel MD & Torsten Wiesel MD E. Kandel: “David and Torsten did more than open up the study of primary visual cortex; they laid the basis of all that was to follow in the sensory system. Together their body of work stands as one of the great biologic achievements of the 20 th century” Other “critical periods” have since been found in hearing & language acquisitions Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine -1981 (shared with Roger Sperry MD)

New York Times: Sept. 24, 2013 Obit for Dr. Hubel The Discovery!!!!

David Hubel MD & Torsten Wiesel MD Brain and Visual Perception: The Story of a 25 -Year Collaboration • . 2004