Abstract
The history of neuroscience is the memory of the discipline and this memory depends on the study of the present traces of the past; the things left behind: artifacts, equipment, written documents, data books, photographs, memoirs, etc. History, in all of its definitions, is an integral part of neuroscience and I have used examples from the literature and my personal experience to illustrate the importance of the different aspects of history in neuroscience. Each time we talk about the brain, do an experiment, or write a research article, we are involved in history. Each published experiment becomes a historical document; it relies on past research (the “Introduction” section), procedures developed in the past (“Methods” section) and as soon as new data are published, they become history and become embedded into the history of the discipline (“Discussion” section). In order to be transparent and able to be replicated, each experiment requires its own historical archive. Studying history means researching books, documents and objects in libraries, archives, and museums. It means looking at data books, letters and memos, talking to scientists, and reading biographies and autobiographies. History can be made relevant by integrating historical documents into classes and by using historical websites. Finally, conducting historical research can be interesting, entertaining, and can lead to travel to out-of-the-way and exotic places and meeting interesting people.
Highlights
I know of very few neuroscience programs that focus on the history of neuroscience
To research the life of Donald Hebb took me to the archives at Dalhousie University, McGill University, the University of Chicago, Harvard University and the archives of the History of Psychology in Akron Ohio, as well as to many small archives and museums
Because history points out the flaws and problems with past research, it has been suggested that it be ‘‘X-rated,’’ as the focus has moved away from the search for the ‘‘objective truths’’ in history to the more subjective ‘‘memory’’ approach to history, with all its errors, omissions and flaws
Summary
I know of very few neuroscience programs that focus on the history of neuroscience. all research involves the study of history, even if it is only the history of a single research topic. Hebb’s influential book, The Organization of Behavior (Hebb, 1949/2002), established the concepts of synaptic change and cell assemblies. I began to write the introductions to these lectures and this resulted in having Hebb’s book republished (Hebb, 1949/2002) and writing articles on his life and work (Brown and Milner, 2003; Brown, 2007b).
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