Robert Fettiplace facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Robert Fettiplace
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Born |
Nottingham, England
|
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Cambridge University |
| Awards | Kavli Prize in Neuroscience (2018) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Neurobiology |
| Institutions | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Robert Fettiplace is a famous British neuroscientist. A neuroscientist is a scientist who studies the brain and the nervous system. He is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States. Professor Fettiplace is well-known for his important discoveries about how we hear.
Contents
How We Hear: Robert Fettiplace's Discoveries
Robert Fettiplace has spent his career studying how animals, including humans, hear sounds. He wanted to understand the tiny parts inside our ears that turn sound waves into signals our brain can understand.
Exploring Hair Cells and Hearing
In 1976, Dr. Fettiplace and another scientist, Andrew Crawford, found a new way to study hearing. They looked at special cells called hair cells inside the ears of reptiles. Hair cells are tiny cells with hair-like structures that vibrate when sound hits them. They are found in the cochlea, which is a spiral-shaped part of the inner ear.
Their experiments were the first to show how these hair cells work. They discovered that each hair cell is specially tuned to hear a specific sound frequency. Think of it like a radio station: each hair cell "tunes in" to a different sound pitch.
The Role of Electrical Resonance
Dr. Fettiplace's research showed that much of this "tuning" happens because of something called electrical resonance inside the hair cells. This means the hair cells can vibrate electrically at certain frequencies, helping them pick out specific sounds.
How Potassium Channels Help Us Hear
Later, Dr. Fettiplace found that tiny tunnels in the hair cells, called potassium channels, control this electrical resonance. The number and speed of these channels change how high or low a sound the cell can hear. More channels or faster channels mean the cell can hear higher frequencies.
He discovered that different types of potassium channels work together to cover the full range of sounds we can hear. These channels work with other channels, called calcium channels, to create the electrical vibrations. This amazing system is found in all animals with backbones, except for mammals like us.
Understanding Sound Transduction
Dr. Fettiplace also used new ways to look at the hair-like bundles on the hair cells. He showed that these bundles can actively move, even in tiny ways. His work then focused on finding the exact channels that turn sound vibrations into electrical signals. This process is called sound transduction. It's how our ears change physical sound into messages our brain can understand.
Awards and Recognition
Robert Fettiplace's important work has earned him many awards.
- In 1990, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the United Kingdom.
- In 2012, he was also chosen as a Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
- In 2018, Dr. Fettiplace shared the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience. This is a major international award given for breakthroughs in science. He shared it with A. James Hudspeth and Christine Petit.
- In 2020, he also received the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize.
