| 1 | Name: | Dr. Fernando Nottebohm | |
| Institution: | Rockefeller University | ||
| Year Elected: | 1991 | ||
| Class: | 2. Biological Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 205. Microbiology | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1940 | ||
Argentine biologist Fernando Nottebohm has been at Rockefeller University since 1967 and a professor since 1976. He became director of the Rockefeller University Field Research Center for Ethology and Ecology in 1981. His investigations focused on diverse aspects of vocal learning in birds, from the ecological correlates of song dialect boundaries to neuronal replacement in adult brain. He described central pathways for the acquisition and production of learned song, then showed that several of the song nuclei were much larger in males than in females. These same nuclei also showed seasonal changes in size, as the levels of gonadal hormones changed cyclically and, in some species left side dominance which, however, could be reversed. Perhaps his most surprising finding was that some classes of song system neurons continued to be produced in adult brain, replacing, numerically, others that had died. Nottebohm and his colleagues described where these new neurons were born, the neurogenic stem cells and how the daughter cells migrated and eventually joined existing circuits. Dr. Nottebohm has received many awards for his work and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. | |||