Michel Jouvet facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Michel Jouvet
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| Born |
Michel Valentin Marcel Jouvet
16 November 1925 |
| Died | 3 October 2017 (aged 91) Villeurbanne, France
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| Alma mater | University of Lyon University of Paris (Medicine) |
| Occupation | Neuroscientist, medical researcher |
| Known for | sleep research |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Lyon |
Michel Valentin Marcel Jouvet (born November 16, 1925 – died October 3, 2017) was a French scientist who studied the brain and how it works. He was a neuroscientist and a medical researcher.
He and his team made a huge discovery: they found a special kind of sleep called paradoxical sleep. He even came up with that name! We now know this as REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement sleep). They showed that it's a unique state for our brain, different from being awake or in deep sleep. Jouvet also helped create a medicine called Modafinil.
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Career and Discoveries
Michel Jouvet was a professor at the University of Lyon in France. He led important research groups that studied how our brains work, especially during sleep. In 1955, he spent a year working in a lab in California. After that, he continued his research in Lyon, focusing on how the brain functions.
Understanding Sleep Stages
In 1959, Jouvet described the brain signals that show when someone's brain has stopped working. This helped doctors understand brain death.
Then, in 1961, he made a big step in understanding sleep. He divided sleep into two main types:
- Slow-wave sleep: This is the deep, quiet sleep.
- Rhombencephalic sleep: This is what he called paradoxical sleep. In English, it's known as REM sleep.
He was the first to map out the areas of the brain that control REM sleep. This was a major breakthrough in sleep medicine.
Research on Dreams and Cats
In 1994, Jouvet wrote a detailed paper about how paradoxical sleep works. He also wrote a book called The Paradox of Sleep in 1999. In this book, he suggested an interesting idea: that dreaming might be a way for our brains to "program" themselves. He thought it helps keep our personality and who we are stable. He even wrote a novel called The Castle of Dreams.
In 1959, Jouvet did some important experiments using cats. He studied why our muscles become very relaxed, almost paralyzed, during REM sleep. He found that a part of the brain called the pontine tegmentum is key for REM sleep. He also learned that the muscle relaxation during REM sleep happens because certain parts of the brain stop our movement centers.
His research showed that if a specific area in a cat's brain was damaged, the cats would move around during REM sleep. They would act out their dreams, like pretending to attack or explore. This research helped doctors understand a human sleep problem called REM sleep behavior disorder, where people act out their dreams.
Honors and Awards
Michel Jouvet received many awards for his important work.
- In 1977, he was chosen to be a member of the French Academy of Sciences.
- He won the Intra-Sciences Prize in the United States in 1981.
- In 1983, he received the Prize of the Foundation for Medical Research.
- He was given the famous Prix mondial Cino Del Duca in 1991.
- The Sleep Research Society gave him their Distinguished Scientist Award in 1990.
- In 2003, he was honored at a big meeting of sleep professionals.
Death
Michel Jouvet passed away at the age of 91.
See also
In Spanish: Michel Jouvet para niños
- Eugene Aserinsky
- William C. Dement
- Nathaniel Kleitman
