Semir Zeki
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'''Semir Zeki''' is Professor of [[Neurobiology]] at [[University College London]]. His main interest is the organization of the [[primate]] [[visual system|visual]] [[brain]]. He published his first scientific paper in 1967. Since then he has written over 150 papers and three books: ''A Vision of the Brain'' (1993), ''Inner Vision: an exploration of art and the brain'' (1999) [which has been translated into six languages] and ''La Quête de l’essentiel'', which he co-authored with the late French painter [[Balthus]] ([[Count Klossowski de Rola]]). In 1994, he began to study the neural basis of [[creativity]] and the [[aesthetics|aesthetic]] appreciation of [[art]]. In 2001, he founded the Institute of Neuroesthetics, based mainly in Berkeley, California.
==Formative influences==
When at school, Zeki got acquainted with work on the brain, especially from [[John Zachary Young]] and vowed to work with him, which he did, at University College London. He initially studied [[anthropology]], then switched to [[medicine]], finally taking a [[PhD]] in [[anatomy]].
Zeki then worked as a [[post-doctoral fellow]] at the [[University of Wisconsin-Madison]], and at [[St. Elizabeths Hospital]], [[Washington, DC]] before returning to University College London as Henry Head Research Fellow of the Royal Society.
==Time at University College London==
Since 1970 Zeki has been based at University College, being appointed the Professor of Neurobiology in 1980. He was Co-Head of the [[Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neuroscience]] at University College London from 1994 to 2001.
Zeki has conducted anatomical and physiological studies of the primate visual brain. Since 1987, he has used [[positron emission tomography]] (PET) and [[functional magnetic resonance imaging]] (fMRI) to study the human visual brain.
Zeki has lectured on the subject the world over. Among the more than 50 named lectures he has given are The [[David Ferrier|Ferrier]] Lecture (Royal Society), the Sir [[Humphry Davy]] Lecture ([[Académie des Sciences, Paris]]), the [[Philip Bard Lecture]]([[Johns Hopkins University]]), the [[Paul Broca]] Lecture ([[Lyon]]), the [[Getty Center|Getty]] Public Lecture ([[Los Angeles]]), the [[David Marr (psychologist)|David Marr]] Lecture ([[Cambridge]]), the [[Koetser Lecture]] ([[Zurich]]), the [[Burda Lecture]] ([[Munich]]), [[Sigma Tau Lecture]] ([[Milan]]), the [[Donders Lecture]] ([[Netherlands]]), and the [[Hayaishi Lecture]] ([[Osaka]]) and Carl Bernhard Lecture (Stockholm).
He has also lectured specifically on art and the brain at various institutions around the world, including the [[Tate Gallery]] ([[London]]), the [[Musée d'Orsay]]([[Paris]]), [[Gemäldegalerie (Berlin)|Gemäldegalerie]] ([[Berlin]]), the [[Getty Museum]] ([[Los Angeles]]), [[Akademie der Bildenden Kunst]] ([[Vienna]]) and the [[Mondriaanhuis]], [[Amersfoort]], the Netherlands. In 2003 he curated the exhibition [[Colore e Cervello]] at the [[Casa Rusca]] in [[Locarno]], [[Switzerland]], to coincide with the Retrospective Exhibition of the works of the Italian painter, [[Piero Dorazio]].
He has served as a Trustee of [[Fight for Sight]], London and of the [[Minerva Foundation]], Berkeley, California. He was a member of the [[National Society Council of France]] from 1998 to 2002 and is a member of the Board of Scientific Governors of [[The Scripps Research Institute]], California. He was Editor of ''The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences'' and has served on the editorial boards of several other journals specialized in neurobiology.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, a foreign member of the [[American Philosophical Society]], Fellow of the [[Academy of Medical Sciences]] (London), a member of the [[Academia Europeae]] and of the [[European Academy of Sciences and Arts]]. He is also a member of the Scientific Board of Governors at [[The SCripps Research Institute]].
His Prizes include the [[Minerva Foundation Prize]], The [[LVMH]] [[Science pour l’art Prize]], the [[Rank Prize in opto-electronics]], The [[Electronic Imaging Award]], the [[Koetser Prize]] and the [[King Faisal International Prize in Biology]].
==Scientific achievements==
Zeki's scientific achievements include:
* Discovery of the many visual areas of the brain and their their functional specialisation for different visual attributes such as colour and motion.
* finding neurons in a part of the [[monkey]] visual system that would respond only when a particular colour, rather than a particular wavelength, was in their [[receptive field]]s. For example, he showed that a [[red]]-sensitive [[neuron]] would continue to respond to a red stimulus, even when it was illuminated mainly by [[green]] [[light]]. This was the first study relating colour perception to single cell physiology in the brain.
* Showing that processing sites in the visual brain are also perceptual sites.
* Showing that we see different attributes of visual input at different times.
* Charting the activity of the brain in time and showing that different visual areas have different activity time courses.
* Studying the neural correlates of subjective mental states, such as love and beauty.
==Life outside of science==
Semir Zeki lists his hobbies as visual arts, reading (especially about the darker side of man), music (especially opera) and deep sleep.
==External links==
* http://www.neuroesthetics.org
* http://www.vislab.ucl.ac.uk
* http://www.neuroestetica.org
* http://plaisir.berkeley.edu
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