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'''David Eagleman''' is a neuroscientist at [[Baylor College of Medicine]], where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception<ref>Burdick, A (2006). The mind in overdrive. Discover Magazine, 27 (4), 21-22.</ref>, synesthesia<ref>Hughes, V (2006). [http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/12/the_most_beautiful_painting_yo.php?page=all&p=y The Most Beautiful Painting You've Ever Heard], Seed Magazine, Dec 13, 2006.</ref>, and neurolaw<ref>Eagleman DM (2008). [http://neuro.bcm.edu/eagleman/papers/Eagleman_NeuroscienceandLaw_HoustonLawyer.pdf Neuroscience and the Law]. Houston Lawyer. 16(6): 36-40.</ref>. He is also an internationally renowned fiction writer<ref name= "nytimesSum09">Alexander McCall Smith, [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/books/review/Smith-t.html Eternal Whimsy: Review of David Eagleman's ''Sum''], New York Times Book Review, June 12, 2009. Retrieved on [[2009]]-[[06-14]].</ref><ref name="ObserverSum09">Geoff Dyer, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/07/sum-forty-tales-afterlives-david-eagleman Do you really want to come back as a horse?: Geoff Dyer is bowled over by a neuroscientist's exploration of the beyond], The Observer, June 7, 2009. Retrieved on [[2009]]-[[06-12]].</ref><ref name= "LATimesSum09">[http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-ca-discoveries1-2009feb01,0,6815929.story David Eagleman's ''Sum''] (book review), Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2009. Retrieved on [[2009]]-[[02-08]].</ref>. |
'''David Eagleman''' is a neuroscientist at [[Baylor College of Medicine]], where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception<ref>Burdick, A (2006). The mind in overdrive. Discover Magazine, 27 (4), 21-22.</ref>, synesthesia<ref>Hughes, V (2006). [http://seedmagazine.com/news/2006/12/the_most_beautiful_painting_yo.php?page=all&p=y The Most Beautiful Painting You've Ever Heard], Seed Magazine, Dec 13, 2006.</ref>, and neurolaw<ref>Eagleman DM (2008). [http://neuro.bcm.edu/eagleman/papers/Eagleman_NeuroscienceandLaw_HoustonLawyer.pdf Neuroscience and the Law]. Houston Lawyer. 16(6): 36-40.</ref>. He is also an internationally renowned fiction writer published in 15 languages<ref name= "nytimesSum09">Alexander McCall Smith, [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/books/review/Smith-t.html Eternal Whimsy: Review of David Eagleman's ''Sum''], New York Times Book Review, June 12, 2009. Retrieved on [[2009]]-[[06-14]].</ref><ref name="ObserverSum09">Geoff Dyer, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/07/sum-forty-tales-afterlives-david-eagleman Do you really want to come back as a horse?: Geoff Dyer is bowled over by a neuroscientist's exploration of the beyond], The Observer, June 7, 2009. Retrieved on [[2009]]-[[06-12]].</ref><ref name= "LATimesSum09">[http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-ca-discoveries1-2009feb01,0,6815929.story David Eagleman's ''Sum''] (book review), Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2009. Retrieved on [[2009]]-[[02-08]].</ref>. |
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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==Writing== |
==Writing== |
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Eagleman's debut work of literary fiction, [[Sum (novel)|''Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives'']], was released in February 2009 and quickly hit bestseller status. It has been translated into 15 languages. In the New York Times Book Review, [[Alexander McCall Smith]] described ''Sum'' as a "delightful, thought-provoking little collection belonging to that category of strange, unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned. It is full of tangential insights into the human condition and poetic thought experiments... It is also full of touching moments and glorious wit of the sort one only hopes will be in copious supply on the other side."<ref name= "nytimesSum09"/> Author [[Geoff Dyer]] wrote in [[The Observer]] that "Sum has the unaccountable, jaw-dropping quality of genius."<ref name="ObserverSum09"/> The [[Wall Street Journal]] called ''Sum'' "inventive and imaginative"<ref>Stark, A. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123448373118079905.html In Our End Is Our Beginning], Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2009.</ref> and the [[Los Angeles Times]] hailed the book as "teeming, writhing with imagination"<ref name= "LATimesSum09"/>. |
Eagleman's debut work of literary fiction, [[Sum (novel)|''Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives'']], was released in February 2009 and quickly hit bestseller status. It has been translated into 15 languages. In the New York Times Book Review, [[Alexander McCall Smith]] described ''Sum'' as a "delightful, thought-provoking little collection belonging to that category of strange, unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned. It is full of tangential insights into the human condition and poetic thought experiments... It is also full of touching moments and glorious wit of the sort one only hopes will be in copious supply on the other side."<ref name= "nytimesSum09"/> Author [[Geoff Dyer]] wrote in [[The Observer]] that "Sum has the unaccountable, jaw-dropping quality of genius."<ref name="ObserverSum09"/> The [[Wall Street Journal]] called ''Sum'' "inventive and imaginative"<ref>Stark, A. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123448373118079905.html In Our End Is Our Beginning], ''Wall Street Journal'', February 13, 2009.</ref> and the [[Los Angeles Times]] hailed the book as "teeming, writhing with imagination"<ref name= "LATimesSum09"/>. ''Sum'' was chosen as a Book of the Week by both [[The Guardian]]<ref>Nick Lezard, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/13/sum-forty-tales-afterlives-david-eagleman Life after life explained], ''The Guardian'', June 13, 2009.</ref> and [[The Week]]<ref>[http://www.theweek.com/article/index/93761/Book_of_the_week_Sum_Forty_Tales__From_the_Afterlives_by_David_Eagleman Book of the week: Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives by David Eagleman], ''The Week'', March 6, 2009.</ref> |
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Discussing both science and literature, Eagleman appears regularly on National Public Radio<ref name="TOTN">NPR: Talk of the Nation, Feb 17, 2009. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100778241 'Afterlives'].</ref><ref>NPR: On Point, Feb 27, 2009. [http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/02/envisioning-the-afterlife 'Envisioning the Afterlife'].</ref><ref>All Things Considered, May 18, 2009. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104183551 Krulwich On Science]</ref><ref>Radiolab, June 2, 2009 [http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/06/02/stayin-alive Stayin' Alive].</ref>. |
Discussing both science and literature, Eagleman appears regularly on National Public Radio in America<ref name="TOTN">NPR: Talk of the Nation, Feb 17, 2009. [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100778241 'Afterlives'].</ref><ref>NPR: On Point, Feb 27, 2009. [http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/02/envisioning-the-afterlife 'Envisioning the Afterlife'].</ref><ref>All Things Considered, May 18, 2009. [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104183551 Krulwich On Science]</ref><ref>Radiolab, June 2, 2009 [http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/06/02/stayin-alive Stayin' Alive].</ref>, England<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00js5yq BBC Radio 4 - Front Row with Kirsty Lang], Apr 24, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/audio/2009/apr/27/science-weekly-podcast-afterlife Science Weekly - David Eagleman on the Afterlife], Guardian.co.uk, Apr 27, 2009.</ref> and Australia <ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2009/2588578.htm Late Night Live with Philip Adams - Tales from the Afterlife], Australian Broadcasting Corp., June 4, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/classic/throsby/stories/s2584177.htm Mornings with Margaret Throsby], Australian Broadcasting Corp, June 3, 2009.</ref><ref>All in the Mind with Natasha Mitchell, [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2009/2594804.htm David Eagleman: The afterlife, synesthesia and other tales of the senses], Australian Broadcasting Corp, June 20, 2009.</ref>. |
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==Books by David Eagleman== |
==Books by David Eagleman== |
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Revision as of 19:55, 15 June 2009
David Eagleman | |
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| File:David Eagleman Poster Session.JPG | |
| Born | Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine |
| Known for | Time perception, synesthesia, neuroscience and the law |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroscience, Writing |
| Institutions | Baylor College of Medicine |
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception[1], synesthesia[2], and neurolaw[3]. He is also an internationally renowned fiction writer published in 15 languages[4][5][6].
Biography
David Eagleman grew up in New Mexico to a physician father and biology teacher mother. An early experience of falling from a roof raised his interest in understanding the neural basis of time perception[7]. As an undergraduate he majored in British and American Literature at Rice University, with his junior year abroad at Oxford University, graduating in 1993[8]. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in 1998, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute. He serves on the editorial boards of the scientific journals PLoS One and Journal of Vision. He directs a neuroscience research laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine.
Scientific Specializations
Time perception
Eagleman's scientific work has combined psychophysical, behavioral, and computational approaches to address the relationship between the timing of perception and the timing of neural signals[9][10]. Areas for which he is known include temporal encoding, time warping, manipulations of the perception of causality, and time perception in high-adrenaline situations. In one experiment, he dropped volunteers from a 150 foot tower to measure time perception as they fell.[11][12] He writes that his end goal is "to understand how neural signals processed by different brain regions come together for a temporally unified picture of the world."[13]
Synesthesia
Synesthesia is an unusual perceptual condition in which stimulation to one sense triggers an involuntary sensation in other senses. Eagleman is the developer of The Synesthesia Battery, a free online test by which people can determine whether they are synesthetic. By this technique he has tested and analyzed thousands of synesthetes[14], and has written a book on synesthesia with Richard Cytowic, entitled Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia.[15]
Visual illusions
Eagleman has published extensively on what visual illusions tell us about neurobiology, concentrating especially on the flash lag illusion and wagon wheel effect.
Neuroscience and the Law
Neurolaw is an emerging field that determines how modern brain science should affect the way we make laws, punish criminals, and invent new methods for rehabilitation. Eagleman is the founder and director of Baylor College of Medicine's Initiative on Neuroscience and Law.[16]
Writing
Eagleman's debut work of literary fiction, Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, was released in February 2009 and quickly hit bestseller status. It has been translated into 15 languages. In the New York Times Book Review, Alexander McCall Smith described Sum as a "delightful, thought-provoking little collection belonging to that category of strange, unclassifiable books that will haunt the reader long after the last page has been turned. It is full of tangential insights into the human condition and poetic thought experiments... It is also full of touching moments and glorious wit of the sort one only hopes will be in copious supply on the other side."[4] Author Geoff Dyer wrote in The Observer that "Sum has the unaccountable, jaw-dropping quality of genius."[5] The Wall Street Journal called Sum "inventive and imaginative"[17] and the Los Angeles Times hailed the book as "teeming, writhing with imagination"[6]. Sum was chosen as a Book of the Week by both The Guardian[18] and The Week[19]
Discussing both science and literature, Eagleman appears regularly on National Public Radio in America[20][21][22][23], England[24][25] and Australia [26][27][28].
Books by David Eagleman
- Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, Pantheon Press, February 2009. (Fiction)
- Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia, co-authored with Richard Cytowic, March 2009, M.I.T. Press.
- Dethronement: The Secret Life of the Unconscious Brain, Pantheon Books, 2010
- The Fluid Machine: How the Brain Reconfigures Itself of the Fly, Oxford University Press, 2010
- Unsolved Mysteries of the Brain, under review at Oxford University Press. See short version: Ten Unsolved Mysteries of the Brain, cover article in Discover Magazine, August 2007.
External links
- David Eagleman's laboratory website
- David Eagleman's author website
- The Synesthesia Battery, an online resource for synesthetia.
- The Eagleman prize in mathematics and physics
References
- ^ Burdick, A (2006). The mind in overdrive. Discover Magazine, 27 (4), 21-22.
- ^ Hughes, V (2006). The Most Beautiful Painting You've Ever Heard, Seed Magazine, Dec 13, 2006.
- ^ Eagleman DM (2008). Neuroscience and the Law. Houston Lawyer. 16(6): 36-40.
- ^ a b Alexander McCall Smith, Eternal Whimsy: Review of David Eagleman's Sum, New York Times Book Review, June 12, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-06-14.
- ^ a b Geoff Dyer, Do you really want to come back as a horse?: Geoff Dyer is bowled over by a neuroscientist's exploration of the beyond, The Observer, June 7, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-06-12.
- ^ a b David Eagleman's Sum (book review), Los Angeles Times, February 1, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-02-08.
- ^ Ripley, Amanda (2008). The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why. Crown Books. Pp 65-67.
- ^ "Association of Rice Alumni". Rice.edu. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
- ^ Eagleman DM (2009). Brain Time. In What's Next? Dispatches on the Future of Science. Ed: Max Brockman. Vintage Books.
- ^ Eagleman DM (2008). Human time perception and its illusions. Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 18(2):131-6.
- ^ Choi, CQ. Time doesn’t really freeze when you’re freaked, MSNBC, Dec 11, 2007.
- ^ Exploring Time (documentary), Discovery Channel, 2007
- ^ Eagleman Lab website, retrieved on 2009-02-08
- ^ Why I and O are dull for synaesthetes, New Scientist, 19 Nov, 2007.
- ^ Cytowic RE and Eagleman DM (2009). Wednesday is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia. Cambridge: MIT Press.
- ^ C-SPAN radio - Outside the Beltway, May 7, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-02-08.
- ^ Stark, A. In Our End Is Our Beginning, Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2009.
- ^ Nick Lezard, Life after life explained, The Guardian, June 13, 2009.
- ^ Book of the week: Sum: Forty Tales From the Afterlives by David Eagleman, The Week, March 6, 2009.
- ^ NPR: Talk of the Nation, Feb 17, 2009. 'Afterlives'.
- ^ NPR: On Point, Feb 27, 2009. 'Envisioning the Afterlife'.
- ^ All Things Considered, May 18, 2009. Krulwich On Science
- ^ Radiolab, June 2, 2009 Stayin' Alive.
- ^ BBC Radio 4 - Front Row with Kirsty Lang, Apr 24, 2009.
- ^ Science Weekly - David Eagleman on the Afterlife, Guardian.co.uk, Apr 27, 2009.
- ^ Late Night Live with Philip Adams - Tales from the Afterlife, Australian Broadcasting Corp., June 4, 2009.
- ^ Mornings with Margaret Throsby, Australian Broadcasting Corp, June 3, 2009.
- ^ All in the Mind with Natasha Mitchell, David Eagleman: The afterlife, synesthesia and other tales of the senses, Australian Broadcasting Corp, June 20, 2009.