John O'Keefe (neuroscientist)
John O'Keefe | |
|---|---|
O'Keefe in 2014 | |
| Born | November 18, 1939 New York City, U.S. |
| Citizenship | United States United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | City College of New York (BA) McGill University (MA, PhD) |
| Known for | Discovery of place cells |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neuroscience Psychology |
| Institutions | University College London |
| Thesis | Response properties of amygdalar units in the freely moving cat (1967) |
| Doctoral advisor | Ronald Melzack |
| Notable students | Neil Burgess |
| Website | Website at UCL |
John O'Keefe FRS FMedSci (born November 18, 1939) is an American-British neuroscientist, psychologist and a professor at University College London.
O'Keefe discovered place cells in the hippocampus, and that they show a specific kind of temporal coding in the form of theta phase precession. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014, together with May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser; he has received several other awards.