Richard Frederick Thompson (September 6, 1930 – September 16, 2014) was an American

behavioral neuroscientist Behavioral neuroscience, also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology,Psychobi ...

. He was the William M. Keck Professor of Psychology and Biological Sciences at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, with a parallel appointment as professor of

neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...

. Thompson was known for his work on learning and memory. His graduate student, David A. McCormick discovered that the

cerebellum The cerebellum (: cerebella or cerebellums; Latin for 'little brain') is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as it or eve ...

was critical in learning and performance in

classical conditioning Classical conditioning (also respondent conditioning and Pavlovian conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent Stimulus (physiology), stimulus (e.g. food, a puff of air on the eye, a potential rival) is paired with a n ...

. During his career, he served as editor-in-chief of the

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

s ''Physiological Psychology'', ''

Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology The ''Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology'' was a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. It was established in 1921 as the result of a merger between two journals, ''Psychobiology'' (1918 ...

'', and ''Behavioral Neuroscience''.

Life and education

Thompson was born in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, Oregon and obtained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

and a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

and PhD in

from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, before dying in Los Angeles, California.

Papers

Thompson published 450 research papers, which, according to the

Web of Science The Web of Science (WoS; previously known as Web of Knowledge) is a paid-access platform that provides (typically via the internet) access to multiple databases that provide reference and citation data from academic journals, conference proceedi ...

, have been cited nearly over 23,000 times, giving him an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

of 80.

, accessed April 30, 2015 In 1967, he authored ''Foundations of Physiological Psychology'' (New York,

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins, based in New York City. Founded in New York in 1817 by James Harper and his brother John, the company operated as J. & J. Harper until 1833, when ...

, ), which "revolutionized the way that behavioral neuroscience was presented and learned".

References

1930 births 2014 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Southern California faculty American academic journal editors Reed College alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American neuroscientists Memory researchers 20th-century American psychologists Scientists from Portland, Oregon APA Distinguished Scientific Award for an Early Career Contribution to Psychology recipients {{Neuroscience-stub