Richard W. Tsien facts for kids

Richard Winyu Tsien was born on March 3, 1945, in China. He is a famous American scientist who works as an electrical engineer and a neurobiologist. Neurobiology is the study of the nervous system, including the brain.

Currently, he is a top professor at New York University Medical Center. He also leads the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience there. Before this, he was a respected faculty member at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Early Life and School

Richard Tsien was born in a place called Dading in Guizhou, China. His family is related to an old Chinese king named Qian Liu. Soon after he was born, his family moved to the United States.

Richard went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He earned his first degree in electrical engineering in 1965. A year later, in 1966, he got his master's degree, also in electrical engineering.

After MIT, Richard won a special scholarship called the Rhodes Scholarship. This allowed him to study in the UK at Wadham College, Oxford. He studied there from 1966 to 1969. In 1970, he earned his PhD in biophysics from the University of Oxford. Biophysics is a field that uses physics to understand how living things work.

Career and Research

After finishing his studies in the UK, Richard Tsien returned to the United States in 1970. He started working at Yale University School of Medicine. He began as an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology. He was promoted to associate professor in 1974 and then became a full professor in 1979.

In 1988, Professor Tsien moved to Stanford University. There, he started a new department called Molecular and Cellular Physiology. He was the very first leader of this department. He also directed a neuroscience research center from 1991 to 2001. For many years, until 2011, he was a special professor in the Molecular and Cellular Physiology department. He also helped lead the Stanford Brain Research Center.

Professor Tsien's research has been very important. He has studied calcium channels, which are tiny pathways in cells. These channels help cells send signals to each other. His work has helped scientists understand how these channels work and their role in cell signaling. He also studies how brain connections, called synapses, change over time. This helps us understand how we learn and remember things.

Richard Tsien has also held important leadership roles in the scientific community. From 1987 to 1988, he was the president of the Society of General Physiologists. In 2000, he led the Neurobiology section of the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Awards and Honors

Professor Tsien has received many awards for his important scientific work. Some of these include:

• 1985: Kenneth S. Cole Award for his work on how cell membranes work.
• 1991, 1995, 1999: Kaiser Award for his excellent teaching at Stanford University.
• 1993: Magnes Prize from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
• 1994: Elected to the United States Institute of Medicine.
• 1996: Gave the "Walter B. Cannon Memorial Lecture" for the American Physiological Society.
• 1996: Elected to the Academia Sinica, a top academic organization.
• 1997: Elected as a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS). This is a very high honor for scientists.
• 1998: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• 2000: Became a Fellow of the Biophysical Society.
• 2014: Gave the Bard Lecture at Johns Hopkins University.

Personal Life

Richard Tsien has a younger brother named Roger Y. Tsien. Roger was also a famous biochemist. In 2008, Roger won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work with green fluorescent protein.