Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle facts for kids

Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle (July 15, 1918 – January 11, 2015) was an American scientist who studied the brain. He was a neurophysiologist, which means he studied how the nervous system works. He was also a professor at Johns Hopkins University.

In the 1950s, Dr. Mountcastle made a very important discovery. He found that the cerebral cortex (the outer part of your brain) is organized into tiny columns. This idea, called the columnar organization, changed how scientists studied the brain. After his discovery in 1957, many brain studies used his idea as a starting point.

Vernon Mountcastle's Early Life and School

Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle was born on July 15, 1918. He grew up in Shelbyville, Kentucky, as the third of five children. His family had a history of farming and building.

In 1921, his family moved to Roanoke, Virginia. There, he went to elementary and junior high school. He was also a very active Boy Scout. Vernon's mother, a former teacher, taught him to read and write when he was only four. Because of this, he skipped two grades in school and finished high school at 16.

College Years During the Great Depression

In 1935, Vernon started college at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. This was during the Great Depression, a tough economic time. He studied chemistry and finished his degree in just three years. While at Roanoke, he played tennis and was part of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

In 1938, he began medical school at Johns Hopkins University. He had many great teachers there. At first, Vernon planned to become a surgeon. He didn't do any research experiments until after he returned from World War II.

Serving in World War II

In January 1942, Vernon joined the V-12 Navy College Training Program. This program allowed medical students to finish their studies. In June 1943, he was sent to the Naval Operating Base in Norfolk, Virginia.

Throughout 1943 and 1944, he served in Africa and Europe. He was on four LSTs (landing ships) during important battles. These included the Anzio and Normandy invasions. After the war, he served another year at the Norfolk Naval Hospital. He also briefly served on the USS Cadmus before leaving the Navy.

Vernon Mountcastle's Brain Research

Dr. Mountcastle was very interested in how we think and how we sense the world around us. In the 1960s, he led his lab to study how our brains respond to what we perceive.

One of his most famous early studies was in 1968. It explained how we feel things like flutter and vibration. This happens because of tiny sensors in our skin called mechanoreceptors.

The Cortical Column Idea

In 1978, Dr. Mountcastle suggested a big idea. He proposed that all parts of the neocortex (the newest part of our brain) work in a similar way. He believed that the cortical column was the basic unit of how the brain processes information.

Dr. Mountcastle was dedicated to studying how individual brain cells (neurons) send signals. He led the Bard Laboratories of Neurophysiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. For many years, this was the only place in the world focused on this type of research. His work continues today at the Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute. Dr. Mountcastle passed away in Baltimore in January 2015, at 96 years old.

Awards and Special Honors

Vernon Mountcastle received many awards for his important work.

• In 1965, he was chosen to be part of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• In 1966, he joined the National Academy of Sciences.
• In 1976, he became a member of the American Philosophical Society.
• In 1978, he won the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize from Columbia University. He shared this award with David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel, who later won the Nobel Prize.
• In 1980, he received the Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience.
• In 1981, Dr. Mountcastle helped start the World Cultural Council.
• In 1983, he was given the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.
• In 1984, he received the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement.
• In 1986, he was awarded the United States National Medal of Science.
• In 1998, he received the NAS Award in the Neurosciences from the National Academy of Sciences.

David Hubel, another famous brain scientist, said that Mountcastle's discovery of columns in the brain was the most important finding about the cerebral cortex since Santiago Ramón y Cajal (another brain pioneer).

Jeff Hawkins, in his book On Intelligence, called Mountcastle's 1978 article about the brain's organizing principle "the rosetta stone of neuroscience." This means it was a key discovery that helped unlock many secrets of the brain.