Nationality American Name Richard Cytowic | Role Author Fields Neuroscience | |
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Born December 16, 1952 (age 71)
Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. ( 1952-12-16 ) Institutions George Washington University Medical Center Alma mater Duke University, Wake Forest Known for Synesthesia, Neuropsychology Influences Paul D. MacLean, Norman Geschwind Residence Washington, D.C., United States Education Duke University, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Hun School of Princeton Influenced by Paul D. MacLean, Norman Geschwind Books The Man Who Tasted S, Wednesday Is Indigo Blue, Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, The neurological side of ne, Nerve block for common Similar People David Eagleman, Norman Geschwind, Paul D MacLean Profiles | ||
Synesthesia on 60 minutes with richard cytowic m d
Richard E. Cytowic is an American neurologist and author who rekindled interest in synesthesia in the 1980s and returned it to mainstream science. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his New York Times Magazine cover story about James Brady, the Presidential Press Secretary shot in the brain during the assassination attempt on President Reagan. Cytowic’s writing ranges from textbooks and music reviews, to his Metro Weekly "Love Doctor" essays and brief medical biographies of Anton Chekhov, Maurice Ravel and Virginia Woolf. His work is the subject of two BBC Horizon documentaries, “Orange Sherbert Kisses” (1994) and “Derek Tastes of Earwax” (2014).
Contents
- Synesthesia on 60 minutes with richard cytowic m d
- Richard cytowic gallery talk at hirshhorn
- Biography
- Works
- Artistic fellowships
- References
In Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks writes:
In the 1980, Richard Cytowic made the first neurophysiological studies of synesthetic subjects... In 1989, he published a pioneering text, Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, and this was followed by a popular exploration of the subject in 1993, The Man Who Tasted Shapes. Current techniques of functional brain imaging now give unequivocal evidence for the simultaneous activation or coactivation of two or more sensory areas of the cerebral cortex in synesthetes, just as Cytowic’s work predicted.
Of Wednesday is Indigo Blue, co–authored by Cytowic and David Eagleman, Sacks said, “Their work has changed the way we think of the human brain, and [it] is a unique and indispensable guide for anyone interested in how we perceive the world.” The book won the 2011 Montaigne Medal.
Cytowic is a Professor of Neurology at George Washington University Medical Center, a Mentor at the Point Foundation, and a member of the Advisory Board for Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Richard cytowic gallery talk at hirshhorn
Biography
Cytowic was born on December 16, 1952 in Trenton, New Jersey to a physician father and artist mother, and grew up with an extended family of scientists and artists. His mother is ESPN's "Super Nana Marge", Tim Tebow's No. 1 fan. As a child, Cytowic liked taking things apart and putting them back together to figure out how they worked.
He attended Hun School of Princeton (class of 1970), graduated cum laude from Duke University, and received his M.D. from Wake Forest's Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He studied further at London's Queen Square (Institute of Neurology), and George Washington University Medical Center before founding a private clinic, Capitol Neurology. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from American University (2011).
Retired from clinical practice, Cytowic now mentors medical students at George Washington, writes academic and popular nonfiction, and lectures at museums and cultural institutions worldwide such as the Istanbul Biennial. With installation artist Marcos Lutyens he designed an interactive project at the Los Angeles Main Museum, “A Semantic Survey of Emotions.” During his North Carolina years, he served as music critic for the Winston-Salem Journal.