Approximately 80 neuroscientists who study the vestibularand auditory systems gathered in Reykholt, Borgarfjo¨rður,Iceland, on 16–17 August 2010, to pay tribute to Jay M.Goldberg. The Reykholt meeting was a satellite of theXXVI Ba ´rany Society Meeting. A photograph and listingof the meeting participants are provided in Fig. 1.Goldberg started his scientific career in the 1960sstudying the processing of auditory signals by the centralnervous system. By the 1970s, his interest shifted to thecoding of head movements by the vestibular system. In aseminal series of manuscripts, Goldberg and his longtimecolleague Ce´sar Ferna´ndez described for the first time thedynamics governing the responses of afferents innervatingsemicircular canals (Ferna´ndez and Goldberg 1971,Goldberg and Ferna´ndez 1971a, b) and otolith organs(Ferna´ndez and Goldberg 1976a, b, c) to linear and angularaccelerations. This work was followed by a second seriesof heroic experiments establishing that afferent dischargeregularity is correlated with innervation patterns as well asthe locations of terminals in the neuroepithelium (Ferna´ndezetal.1988,1990;Bairdetal.1988;Goldbergetal.1990a,b).Taken together, this remarkable body of work has set thestage for current and future studies in the field of vestibularneurophysiology.Goldberg’s more recent experiments have continued toprovide important new insights into how vestibular signalsare transduced in the periphery and transformed as they areprocessed by the central nervous system. His current workfocusing on the synaptic and cellular physiology ofreceptors and afferents has furthered our understanding ofthe mechanisms underlying the morphological and physi-ological diversity of the peripheral vestibular system,thereby providing a crucial foundation on which the nextgeneration of vestibular research will be built. Addition-ally, in the process of conducting his research, Goldberghas had a profound impact on his students, collaborators,and colleagues. He has not only trained a large fraction ofthe vestibular neuroscientists who continue to move thefield forward, but the influence of his work and his standardof scientific excellence continues to inspire youngresearchers in the field.This special issue contains 25 articles submitted byGoldberg’s collaborators, colleagues, trainees, and friends,all of whom have been profoundly influenced by hisresearch findings, integrity, and dedication to science.Amongst the articles are 10 reviews and 15 originalresearch studies that discuss how sensory inputs impingingon the inner ear are detected and reflected in the firing ofeighth cranial nerve afferents; how the signals are modifiedas they are processed within the central nervous system;and how they impact a number of behavioral and physio-logical responses, including the control of balance, eyemovements, and blood pressure. These articles are testi-mony to the accomplishments in the field of vestibularneurophysiology spurred by Goldberg’s work during thepast 40 years.