Ladislav Tauc (1926–1999) was a
French neuroscientist
A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist specializing in neuroscience that deals with the anatomy and function of neurons, Biological neural network, neural circuits, and glia, and their Behavior, behavioral, biological, and psycholo ...
, born in
Pardubice
Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...
,
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
.
He was a pioneer in
neuroethology
Neuroethology is the evolutionary and comparative approach to the study of animal behavior and its underlying mechanistic control by the nervous system. It is an interdisciplinary science that combines both neuroscience (study of the nervous s ...
and
neuronal physiology, who immigrated to France in 1949 to work at the Institut Marey in Paris. Tauc was the founder and former director of the Laboratoire de Neurobiologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire of the
French National Centre for Scientific Research
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...
(CNRS). He was one of the teachers of
Eric R. Kandel. There Eric R. Kandel started to investigate the
gill withdrawal reflex and
postsynaptic potential
Postsynaptic potentials are changes in the membrane potential of the postsynaptic terminal of a chemical synapse. Postsynaptic potentials are graded potentials, and should not be confused with action potentials although their function is to initia ...
s (PSP) in identified neurons in the abdominal ganglion of
Aplysia
''Aplysia'' () is a genus of medium-sized to extremely large sea slugs, specifically sea hares, which are a kind of marine gastropod mollusk.
These benthic herbivorous creatures can become rather large compared with most other mollusks. They ...
.
"The introduction of a 'simplified' brain (the ''
Aplysia
''Aplysia'' () is a genus of medium-sized to extremely large sea slugs, specifically sea hares, which are a kind of marine gastropod mollusk.
These benthic herbivorous creatures can become rather large compared with most other mollusks. They ...
'' nervous system) to study the cellular and molecular basis of organized neuronal interactions, has been described as one of Tauc’s essential contributions to
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...
."
Since the year 2000 an annual meeting is organized in honor of Ladislav Tauc.
See also
*
Eric R. Kandel
*
Torsten Wiesel
Torsten Nils Wiesel (born 3 June 1924) is a Swedish Neurophysiology, neurophysiologist. With David H. Hubel, he received the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system; ...
*
Stephen Kuffler
Stephen William Kuffler (August 24, 1913 – October 11, 1980) was a Hungarian-American neurophysiologist. He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Neuroscience". Kuffler, alongside noted Nobel Laureates Sir John Eccles and Sir Bernar ...
References
External links
Obituary from the International Society for Neuroethology
French neuroscientists
French physiologists
1926 births
1999 deaths
Czechoslovak emigrants to France
Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research
{{Neuroscience-stub