Walter j freeman biography
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Walter Jackson Freeman III
American biologist, theoretical neuroscientist and philosopher (–)
For the advocate and practitioner of lobotomy, see Walter Jackson Freeman II.
Walter Jackson Freeman III (January 30, – April 24, ), was an American biologist, theoretical neuroscientist[1] and philosopher who conducted research in rabbits' olfactory perception, using EEG. Based on a theoretical framework of neurodynamics that draws upon insights from chaos theory, he speculated that the currency of brains is primarily meaning, and only secondarily information.[2]
In "Societies of Brains" and in other writings, Freeman rejected the view that the brain uses representations to enable knowledge and behavior.
Biography and contribution to science
[edit]Walter Freeman was born in Washington, DC. His father was Walter Jackson Freeman II; his great-grandfather was William Williams Keen.
Freeman was a multi-disciplinary scientist, prominent in both neuroscience an
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Walter Jackson Freeman II
American physician (–)
"Walter Jackson Freeman" redirects here. For his son, see Walter Jackson Freeman III.
Walter Jackson Freeman II (November 14, – May 31, ) was an American physician who specialized in lobotomy.[1] Wanting to simplify lobotomies so that it could be carried out bygd psychiatrists in psychiatric hospitals, where there were often no operating rooms, surgeons, or anesthesia and limited budgets, Freeman invented a transorbital lobotomy procedure. The transorbital approach involved placing an orbitoclast (an instrument resembling an ice pick) under the eyelid and against the top of the eye socket; a mallet was then used to drive the orbitoclast through the thin layer of bone and into the brain. Freeman's transorbital lobotomy method did not require a neurosurgeon and could be performed outside of an operating room, often bygd untrained psychiatrists without the use of anesthesia bygd using electroconvulsive therapy to induce seizur
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Studying the brain came naturally to Walter Jackson Freeman III, who died on April 24, , after serving on the Berkeley faculty for 57 years. He was born on January 30, , in Washington D.C., into a family with long roots in medicine. His middle name was that of the great American neurologist John Hughlings Jackson; his father, Walter J. Freeman Jr., M.D., was the foremost practitioner of lobotomy in the days when it was a recognized therapy, and his great-grandfather was the noted brain surgeon William Williams Keen. Walter followed family tradition — as most other traditions — but only to a certain degree and not without putting his own stamp on them. As an undergraduate he studied physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, English and philosophy at the University of Chicago, and electronics in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He entered Yale Medical School without ever receiving an undergraduate degree, and graduated cum laude in This was followed by postdoctoral work