Margaret Stratford Livingstone is the

Takeda is a Japanese family name.1990 Census Name Files< ...

Professor of Neurobiology in the Department of Neurobiology at

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

in the field of

visual perception Visual perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment through photopic vision (daytime vision), color vision, scotopic vision (night vision), and mesopic vision (twilight vision), using light in the ...

. She authored the book ''Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing''. She was elected a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 2015 and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.

Education and career

Livingstone was born in Virginia, started college at Duke University and then transferred to

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

where she received her undergraduate degree in 1972. In 1981 she earned her Ph.D from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Following her Ph.D. she worked as a as a visiting fellow at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

and then was a postdoctoral fellow under David H. Hubel at Harvard University. In 1983 she became an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and in 1988 she was promoted to professor, and in 2014 she was named the Takeda Professor of Neurobiology.

Research

Livingstone's early research was on neurons that respond to serotonin, which she conducted by using lobsters as a model organism. She went on to examine the visual responses in cats, monkeys, and how primates sense color. Her research provides insight into how mammals perceive form and movement, the physiological details leading to dsylexia, and the region of the brain used to identify faces. Livingstone's research using

Rhesus monkeys The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally b ...

to study human vision is viewed as both necessary and controversial. Her 2022 paper examined how infant monkeys become attached to soft, inanimate objects, research which raised concerns by

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; , stylized as PeTA) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. PETA reports that PETA entities hav ...

. ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'' published an article on October 19, 2022 outlining the controversy and response by Harvard Medical School, as well as the response of Catherine Hobaiter, a primatologist who has advocated for the retraction of Livingstone’s publications as well as the termination of her funding and her research at Harvard Medical School. Margaret Livingstone released a personal statement regarding the specifics of the procedures used in her research on October 24, 2022.

responded to these concerns on October 14, 2022 by stating that all research conducted at Harvard Medical School follows the guidelines set out by the Animal Welfare Act, the Public Health Service on Humane Care and Use of Animals, and AAALAC International.

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

In 2011, the

Society for Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is a professional society, headquartered in Washington, DC, for basic scientists and physicians around the world whose research is focused on the study of the brain and nervous system. It is especially well kn ...

awarded Livingstone the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2020 she was elected to the United States' National Academy of Sciences.

References

External links

Margaret Stratford Livingstone SfN Biography
(PDF) * Harvard Medical School faculty Living people Harvard University alumni American neuroscientists American women neuroscientists Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni 1950 births American women academics 21st-century American women {{US-biologist-stub