Robert Sapolsky

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Robert Morris Sapolsky
Born 1957
Residence  United States
Nationality American
Fields neurology, neurobiology, behavioral science

Robert Maurice Sapolsky (born 1957) is an American scientist and author. He is currently professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and by courtesy, Neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, he is a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya.[1]

Contents

[edit] Religious Views

Although born into a devout Orthodox Jewish family, Sapolsky is an atheist.[2]

[edit] Education

Robert Sapolsky received his B.A. in biological anthropology summa cum laude from Harvard University and subsequently attended Rockefeller University where he received his Ph.D. in Neuroendocrinology working in the lab of Bruce McEwen, a world-renowned endocrinologist.

[edit] Career

Sapolsky is currently the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor at Stanford University, holding joint appointments in several departments, including Biological Sciences, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery.[3]

A neuroendocrinologist, he has focused his research on issues of stress and neuronal degeneration, as well as on the possibilities of gene therapy strategies for protecting susceptible neurons from disease. Currently, he is working on gene transfer techniques to strengthen neurons against the disabling effects of glucocorticoids. Sapolsky also spends time annually in Kenya studying a population of wild baboons in order to identify the sources of stress in their environment, and the relationship between personality and patterns of stress-related disease in these animals. More specifically, Sapolsky studies the cortisol levels between the Alpha male and female and the subordinates to determine stress level.

He is the author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: An Updated Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases and Coping (1994), which explores the effects of prolonged stress and its contribution to damaging physical and mental afflictions. His other books include, The Trouble with Testosterone: And Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament (1997), Junk Food Monkeys (1997), A Primate’s Memoir (2002) and Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals (2005).

[edit] Honors

Sapolsky has received numerous honors and awards for his work, including the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship genius grant in 1987[4], an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and the Klingenstein Fellowship in Neuroscience.

In 2007, he received the John P. McGovern Award for Behavioral Science, awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[5]

[edit] Quotations

"Finish this lecture, go outside, and unexpectedly get gored by an elephant, and you are going to secrete glucocorticoids. There's no way out of it. You cannot psychologically reframe your experience and decide you did not like the shirt, here's an excuse to throw it out—that sort of thing."[6]

"Most of us don't collapse into puddles of stress-related disease."[6]

"If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you're in big trouble."[6]

"What's the punch line here? Physiologically, it doesn't come cheap being a bastard 24 hours a day."[6]

"And who knows about what's in all those aftershaves and whatnot... something I obviously know zip about."

"I love science, and it pains me to think that so many are terrified of the subject or feel that choosing science means you cannot also choose compassion, or the arts, or be awed by nature. Science is not meant to cure us of mystery, but to reinvent and reinvigorate it."

"Get it wrong, and we call it a cult. Get it right, and maybe, for the next few millennia, people won't have to go to work on your birthday."[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] Selected works

[edit] Books

[edit] Journal articles

  • Sapolsky, Robert; Lewis C. Krey, and Bruce S. McEwen (25 September 2000). "The Neuroendocrinology of Stress and Aging: The Glucocorticoid Cascade Hypothesis". Science of Aging Knowledge Environment 38: 21. 
  • Sapolsky, Robert; L. Michael Romero and Allan U. Munck (2000). "How Do Glucocorticoids Influence Stress Responses? Integrating Permissive, Suppressive, Stimulatory, and Preparative Actions". Endocrine Reviews 21: 55–89. doi:10.1210/er.21.1.55. PMID 10696570. 

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Robert Sapolsky". http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/sapolsky.html. Retrieved on 22 FEB 2009. 
  2. ^ Dan Barker: "When we invited Robert Sapolsky to speak at one of out national conventions to receive our 'Emperor Has No Clothes Award', Robert wrote to me, 'Sure! Get the local Holiday Inn to put up a sign that says Welcome, Hell-bound Atheists!' [...] So, welcome you hell-bound atheist to Freethought Radio, Robert." Sapolsky: "Well, delighted to be among my kindred souls." [...] Annie Laurie Gaylor: So how long have you been a kindred non-soul, what made you an atheist Robert?" Sapolsky: "Oh, I was about fourteen or so... I was brought up very very religiously, orthodox Jewish background and major-league rituals and that sort of thing [...] and something happened when I was fourteen, and no doubt what it was really about was my gonads or who knows what, but over the course of a couple of weeks there was some sort of introspective whatever, where I suddenly decided this was all gibberish. And, among other things, also deciding there's no free will, but not in a remotely religious context, and deciding all of this was nonsense, and within a two week period all of that belief stuff simply evaporated." Freethought Radio podcast (mp3), 3 February 2007 (accessed 22 April 2008).
  3. ^ Stanford Univ. detail of Prof. Sapolsky, http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Robert_Sapolsky, retrieved on 2007-07-27 
  4. ^ "MacArthur Fellows List - July 1987". http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142695/k.2A0E/Fellows_List__July_1987.htm. Retrieved on 2008-03-24. 
  5. ^ "About AAAS: John McGovern Lecture". http://archives.aaas.org/awards.php?a_id=16. Retrieved on 22 FEB 2009. 
  6. ^ a b c d "Stress, Neurodegeneration and Individual Differences". http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1877467554618436978. Retrieved on 2007-07-27. 
  7. ^ url=http://blip.tv/file/2204956/|title=Robert Sapolsky, Biology 150/250, Spring 2002, Human Behavioral Biology|accessdate=2009-07-06

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sapolsky"
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