Joseph E. Bogen, M.D. (July 13, 1926 – April 22, 2005) was a neurophysiologist who specialized in split brain research and focused on theories of

consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

. He was a clinical professor of neurosurgery at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

, Adjunct Professor of Psychology at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, and a visiting professor at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Childhood, education and family

Joseph E. "Joe" Bogen was born on July 13, 1926, in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. He was raised in Ohio, moved to Southern California at 16 and graduated from

Monrovia High School Monrovia High School is a public high school located in Monrovia, California, a northeastern suburb of Los Angeles, United States. Monrovia High School is the only grades 9–12 comprehensive high school in the Monrovia Unified School Distric ...

Monrovia, California Monrovia is a city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 37,931 at the 2020 census. Monrovia has been used for filming TV shows, movies and co ...

in 1943. He began undergraduate studies at Caltech in 1943, but left to join the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

in 1944. He was deployed to the South Pacific and was honorably discharged in 1946. He completed his undergraduate education at

Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...

and received a B.A. in Economics in 1949. He enrolled in the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

and UCLA, followed by the USC School of Medicine. In 1955, he married the former Glenda A. Miksch, R.N. They had three children, a boy named Glenn David, who died in infancy, and two daughters, Meriel and Mira. Dr. Bogen received his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...

from the University of Southern California in 1956. From 1956-57 he completed an internship in Surgery at the New York Hospital

Cornell Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach a ...

, from 1957–58, he completed his residency in Surgery at that institution. From 1958-59, he was a Fellow in Medical Sciences at the National Research Council. From 1959-63, he was a Resident in Neurosurgery, at White Memorial Hospital. In 1966, he received his board certification and was a Diplomate, American Board of Neurological Surgery.

Split brain research

Bogen was part of a research team at Caltech with

Roger Sperry Roger Wolcott Sperry (August 20, 1913 – April 17, 1994) was an American neuropsychologist, neurobiologist, cognitive neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate who, together with David Hunter Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel, won the 1981 Nobel Prize i ...

and H. G. Gordon which conducted the first split brain study. His early surgical interventions to control

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

laid the foundation for the development of modern ideas about the unique identities of the right and left brains. His work played a crucial role in the development of the split-brain experiments that won Caltech's

the 1981

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

in physiology.

Theories of consciousness

Bogen argued that consciousness is subjectivity, that looking for consciousness ''is like looking for the wind, you can only see its effects''. Bogen suggested that scientists look for a center (a nucleus) that has distributivity (i.e. widespread inward and outward connectivity) as a site that produces subjectivity as consciousness. At the time of his death, Bogen had been researching the site in the brain where consciousness is located and was preparing a book about his findings. Bogen lent his expertise in

Wernicke's area Wernicke's area (; ), also called Wernicke's speech area, is one of the two parts of the cerebral cortex that are linked to speech, the other being Broca's area. It is involved in the comprehension of written and spoken language, in contrast to B ...

to American psychologist

Julian Jaynes Julian Jaynes (February 27, 1920 – November 21, 1997) was an American researcher in psychology at Yale and Princeton for nearly 25 years and best known for his 1976 book '' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind' ...

(1920–97), assisting Jaynes in the development of the

bicameral mentality Bicameral mentality is a hypothesis in psychology and neuroscience which argues that the human mind once operated in a state in which cognitive functions were divided between one part of the brain which appears to be "speaking", and a second part ...

hypothesis in 1976.

Popular culture

*Bogen is quoted in Philip K. Dick's 1977 novel, ''

A Scanner Darkly ''A Scanner Darkly'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, published in 1977. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994, and includes an extensive p ...

''. *The software development book
Python For Unix and Linux System Administration
was dedicated to him, by a co-author whom he mentored. *Bogen is quoted in James T. de Kay's 1979 Graphic Novel, ''The Natural Superiority of The Left-Hander.''

Publications

*Voluminous list of books and journal articles:

*Co-Author Bogen, Joseph and Glenda, De Zure, R., Tenhouten, W.D., a... ''THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRAIN'

References

External links

Joe Bogen's Caltech Homepage
* https://www.closertotruth.com/roundtables/consciousness-definablehttps://www.closertotruth.com/roundtables/consciousness-definable {{DEFAULTSORT:Bogen, Joseph 1926 births 2005 deaths American cognitive neuroscientists American consciousness researchers and theorists Keck School of Medicine of USC alumni Whittier College alumni