An introduction to the International Brain Research Organization: IBRO's beginnings

Abstract

At the dawn of modern neuroscience—midway through the 20th century—the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) was already in the ether. It was a time filled with both difficulty and optimism: in the aftermath of the Second World War and during the emerging Cold War, science played a critical role in trying to bridge communities that were separated by political dissent. The seeds of IBRO took root during various scientific meetings occurring in the late 1940s and the 1950s, starting with a meeting of electroencephalographers in London in 1947. Momentum built as neuroscientists in many countries expressed a need for a central organization that would cut across world boundaries and improve communication and collaboration among brain researchers. At the 1958 Moscow Colloquium of EEG and Higher Nervous Activity, there was unanimous support for a resolution proposing the creation of an international organization representing brain research worldwide. In 1960, the Canadian Parliament discussed a bill to approve the charter that created IBRO, and formally established the organization in 1961, the same year in which construction began on the Berlin Wall. Working out of his office at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, Canada, IBRO's first Secretary-General Herbert Jasper and other IBRO volunteers focused their early efforts on creating a worldwide registry of neuroscientists. At the same time, they were negotiating resources and facilities that would allow IBRO to continue to grow and develop. UNESCO offered to settle IBRO in Paris, providing an office and budget. …