František Vyskočil (3 September 1941 in

Pelhřimov Pelhřimov (german: Pilgrams) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Administrative parts The ...

) is a Czech

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial ...

and a professor of

physiology Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and

neurophysiology Neurophysiology is a branch of physiology and neuroscience that studies nervous system function rather than nervous system architecture. This area aids in the diagnosis and monitoring of neurological diseases. Historically, it has been dominated b ...

at Charles University. Best known for his contributions in the field of non-quantal synaptic release of neurotransmitters, he is also a vocal supporter of the

intelligent design Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as "an evidence-based scientific theory about life's origins". Numbers 2006, p. 373; " Dcaptured headlines for its bold attempt to ...

hypothesis and an avid

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

player.

Biography

He graduated from the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague in 1968 and later divided his professional life between the Department of Physiology at the university and the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He also worked as a

Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

at the Department of Physiology,

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

. Professor Vyskočil is a laureate of several prizes, most prominently the Purkynje Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences and a silver Commemorative Medal of the Senate. He is a founding member of The Learned Society of the Czech Republic. Vyskočil was an atheist and later converted to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. František Vyskočil, DrSc. received a silver commemorative medal for his significant lifetime work in the field of physiology and his long-standing scientific and pedagogical activities at Charles University in Prague.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vyskocil, Frantisek 1941 births Living people People from Pelhřimov Czech neuroscientists Czech physiologists Academic staff of Charles University Former atheists and agnostics Czech Jehovah's Witnesses