Robert Thomas Knight is an American

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience (UC Berkeley) as well as Neurology and Neurosurgery (

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

). His work is focused on attention and memory, neuropsychology, physiology, and cognitive neuroscience. He is an Elected Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts & Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other F ...

Early life

Knight was born and raised in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. Knight has one brother, who is a botanist. He received a BS in Physics from the

Illinois Institute of Technology The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

and a M.D. from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. After medical school, he did a residency in neurology at

UC San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Sc ...

followed by postdoctoral research at the

Salk Institute The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among th ...

. From 1980–1998 he was a Professor in the Neurology Department at

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

. Since 2000 he has been a professor at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

in the Department of Psychology, and he served as the Director of the UC Berkeley Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute from 2001 to 2011.

Awards

Knight has received numerous scientific awards for his research into the neural mechanisms of

frontal lobe The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a Sulcus (neur ...

function in cognition. He is an elected Fellow to the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

as well as a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

. He has received both an

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Cognitive Computing Award as well as the

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Research Award (), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of Germany in recognition of ...

. In 2013 he received the Distinguished Career Contribution Award from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society.

Books

Stuss Stuss or Jewish faro is a card game, a variant of faro. In this version (played in house games, back rooms, and saloons), the cards are dealt from the dealer's hand, not from a shoe. Also, the house wins all the money when drawing two equal cards, ...

& Knight (2002 and 2013) ''Principles of Frontal Lobe Function.''Stuss, D. T., & Knight, R. T. (Eds.). (2013). ''Principles of frontal lobe function'' (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty American neurologists Feinberg School of Medicine alumni Illinois Institute of Technology alumni {{US-academic-bio-stub