Interview

Interview with the 1972 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, Gerald M. Edelman, 2 September 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org.

Gerald Edelman discusses his early desire to be a violinist, his education at Ursinus College and Pennsylvania Medical School, his 'F. Scot FitzEdelman' period in Paris and the book that inspired his PhD thesis (5:43), the 169 experiments and one page letter for which he would later be awarded the Nobel Prize (10:33), and the importance of imagination in science (13:23). He then describes his transition to neuroscience and the preeminence of Darwin (23:48), the challenge of proving consciousness (40:49), and the invention of brain-based devices (1:02:51).