Rodolfo Llinás

Rodolfo Llinás Riascos (Bogotá, December 16, 1934) is a Colombian-American doctor, neurophysiologist and professor with a recognized career for his contributions to the field of neuroscience. He graduated as a surgeon from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and obtained his doctorate in neurophysiology from the Australian National University. He is currently a professor of neuroscience at New York University School of Medicine, where he was also director of the department ofPhysiology & Neuroscienceand holds the "Thomas and Suzanne Murphy" at New York University Medical Center, where he also earned a Ph.D. He is the first 'University Professor' that the New York University School of Medicine had in its 181 years of existence. "University Professor" allows you to teach university-level courses in any area of human knowledge.

He directed the program of the scientific working group "Neurolab" from NASA. Among the different contributions for which he is known are his works on comparative physiology of the cerebellum, the intrinsic electrophysiological properties of neurons with the enunciation of what is now known as "Llinás Law", and on the relationship between brain activity, brain waves and consciousness.

He has been residing in the United States in New York City for 50 years, and has been a naturalized citizen of this country since 1985. He is married to the Australian philosopher Gillian Kimber, with whom he has two children Álex and Rafael.

Beginning of your studies and professional life

Motivated by his father, the surgeon Jorge Enrique Llinás Olarte, and by the curiosity that the patients in the office of his grandfather Pablo Llinás Manotas produced in him, who emigrated to Colombia from Spain at the end of the 19th century, Llinás completed his high school degree at the Gimnasio Moderno in 1952 and entered the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, which conferred on him the title of Surgeon in 1959. There he received histology classes from his uncle Juan Pablo Llinás. During his career he had the opportunity to live in Europe and There he met several researchers in Spain, France and finally Switzerland, where he participated in neurophysiology experiments with the Swiss Walter Rudolf Hess, Nobel Prize winner in Physiology, Medicine, professor and director of the Department of the Institute of Physiology of the University of Zurich. Additionally, during his career he completed a theoretical thesis on the visual system under the tutorship of the Spanish neurosurgeon and neurophysiologist Fernando Rosas and the mathematician Carlo Federici at the National University of Colombia.

After graduating as a doctor, Llinás traveled to the United States to begin his residency in neurosurgery, but changed his mind and devoted himself to experimental neuroscience, working for some time as an assistant researcher at the University of Minnesota. He later traveled to Canberra, Australia, where he worked with Sir John Carew Eccles, Nobel Laureate in Physiology in 1963; There he obtained his Ph. D. degree in Neurophysiology from the Australian National University (ANU) in 1965. After returning to the University of Minnesota, now as a postdoctoral researcher he is promoted to head of the Department of Physiology. at the NYU School of Medicine, where he has developed a brilliant career for more than 50 years.

In 2006 he gave the inaugural presentation of the Multidisciplinary Campus in Perception and Intelligence of Albacete 2006 that celebrated 50 years of Artificial Intelligence, the so-called Dartmouth Conference.

He is recognized for such interesting publications as 'The Brain and the Myth of the Self', with a prologue by Gabriel García Márquez. The biography Rodolfo Llinás, the difficult question written by Colombian journalist Pablo Correa in 2017 compiles the life and discoveries of the Colombian neuroscientist. The book explains why a country like Colombia should feel proud of a scientist who has given a lot, both to the human being as an individual and to his history. He owes his knowledge of it to his uncertainty, which he summarizes in one sentence: “As a child I saw a tyrannosaurus skeleton and its impact has lasted my entire life. I wish other children had that privilege.

Recognitions and Achievements

Rodolfo Llinás is one of the fathers of global Neuroscience. His contributions are important and numerous, but it is worth highlighting his work and contributions in:

• Honorary to the best neurophysiologist in Colombia in 2006
• Discovery of dendritic inhibition in central neurons (in mammal motorbikes).
• The organization of functions of the neuronal circuits of the cerebelous Cortex.
• He defined the cerebel function from an evolutionary perspective.
• First description of electrical coupling in the mammal SNC (mesencephalic trigeminal core).
• First to determine the existence of presynaptic calcium currents, under voltage fixation, in the giant squid synapsis.
• Discover that vertebrate neurons (the brain Purkinje cells) are able to generate calcium-dependent action potentials.
• Discover Type-P calcium channels in Purkinje cells.
• Discover the low threshold of activation of calcium ion behavior (now it is known that it is due to the type-T calcium channels) in the lower olive and the thalamus neurons.
• Enact the law of the non-exchangeability of neurons that today bears its name: Llinás Law.
• Develop together with Andreas Pellionisz a model of brain function through tensorial analysis to understand the cerebelar circuit dynamically.
• Discover the calcium concentration microdomains in the pre-synaptic activation area.
• Use of magnetoencephalography in clinical research.
• His pioneering work on the lower olive and neuronal authoritomy.
• Discover oscillations of the membrane potential in subumbral, in the lower olive, the thalamus and the crust.
• Discover the Talamocortical Disrhythmias.
• It has created and built the first olivo-cerebelar artificial motor control system that has been included in the BAUV project Bio-Inspired Autonomous Undersea Vehicle of the U.S. Navy developed by P. Bandyopadhyay.
• Creator of the field of Neurophysics in 2010
• Research on the increase in production the ATP by mitochondria generated by oxygen nanobujas in saline solution.

Works

• Neurobiology of Cerebellar Evolution and Development. Chicago: Am. Med. Association, 1969.
• Thalamic Oscillations and Signaling(with M. STERIADE and E. JONES), John Wiley & Sons, 1990.
• The Cerebellum Revisited (along with C. SOTELO), New York: Springer-Verlag, 1992.
• Continuum mind-brain. Sensory processes (along with P. S. CHURCHLAND), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Unibibiblos), Universidad del Rosario, 2006. ISBN 958-701-690-4The Mind-Brain Continuum. in English Cambridge: MIT.).
• The Squid Giant Synapse. Oxford University Press, 1999.
• The brain and myth of the self (I of the Vortex: from neurons to self MIT Press, 2001. With a prologue by Gabriel García Márquez. He's a scientific best seller. The brain serves to predict the next step that avoids, as far as possible, the risk of dying. The brain, according to Llinás, is a closed system, 'perforated' by the senses. It creates representations of the outside that allow to precede functional states of response. "As humans," Llinás says, "we are brain animals."

Honors received

Among the many that he has received, the following stand out:

• 1973: Catholic Conference, American Society of Physiology.
• 1979: Catalan Conference, Collège de France, Paris.
• 1984: Lecture, King's College, London.
• 1986: Member of the National Academy of Science of the United States. U.S.
• 1986: Member of the National Academy of Medicine of Colombia.
• 1988: Luigi Galvani Award and Chair, Georgetown University, Washington, USA. U.S.
• 1989: F. O. Schmitt Award and Chair in Neuroscience, Rockefeller University, New York, USA. U.S.
• 1991: Albert Einstein Gold Medal in Unesco Science.
• 1991: Medalla "Agustín Nieto Caballero", Colombia.
• 1992: Order of Boyacá, Presidency of Colombia.
• 1994: Signoret Prize in Cognición, Fundación Ipsen la Salpâtrière, Paris, France.
• 1996: Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• 1996: Member of the American Philosophy Society.
• 1996: Member of the Royal National Academy of Medicine, Spain.
• 1999: Robert S Award. Dow in Neurosciences, Portland, Oregon, United States.
• 2002: Member of the French Academy of Sciences.
• 2004: Santiago Grisolía Award and Chair. Valencia, Spain.
• 2004: Koetsler Award for Brain Research. Zürich, Switzerland.
• 2013: IV Diploma Cajal. Personally given by Queen Sofia, Madrid, Spain.
• 2013: Ragnar Granit Award and Conference, Instituto Nobel, Stockholm, Sweden.
• 2015: Fundación "Castilla del Pino", Córdoba, Spain.
• 2016: Nansen Conference, Academy of Science, Oslo, Norway.
• 2016: "Scholastic of the Year", National University of Australia, Canberra, Australia.
• 2018: Ralph W. Gerard Award in Neuroscience of the Society for Neuroscience, USA. U.S.

Honorary Doctorates

• 1985: Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.
• 1993: University of Barcelona, Spain.
• 1994: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá.
• 1997: Complutense University of Madrid, Spain.
• 1998: Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá.
• 2005: University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan.
• 2006: University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
• 2012: Gold Medal of CSIC, Spain.
• 2012: University of Lima, Peru.