Richard Frederick Thompson (September 6, 1930 – September 16, 2014) was an American behavioral neuroscientist. He was the William M. Keck Professor of Psychology and Biological Sciences at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, with a parallel appointment as professor of

neurology Neurology (from el, wikt:νεῦρον, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine), medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of co ...

. Thompson was known for his groundbreaking work on learning and memory and his work on the

cerebellum The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger. In humans, the cerebel ...

was seminal in showing its implication in

classical conditioning Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent stimulus (e.g. food) is paired with a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. a triangle). It also refers to the learni ...

. During his career, he served as editor-in-chief of the

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

s ''Physiological Psychology'', ''

Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology The ''Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology'' was a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. It was established in 1921 as the result of a merger between two journals, ''Psychobiology'' (191 ...

'', and ''Behavioral Neuroscience''.

Life and education

Thompson was born in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Oregon and obtained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

from

Reed College Reed College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland neighborhood, with Tudor-Gothic style architecture, and a forested canyon nature preserve at ...

and a

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and PhD in

from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. Thompson died in Los Angeles, California.

Influence

Thompson published 450 research papers, which, according to the Web of Science, have been cited nearly over 23,000 times, giving him an

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with obvious success indicators such as winn ...

of 80. Web of Science, accessed April 30, 2015 In 1967, Thompson also authored ''Foundations of Physiological Psychology'' (New York,

Harper & Row Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

, ), which "revolutionized the way that behavioral neuroscience was presented and learned".

References

1930 births 2014 deaths Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Southern California faculty Academic journal editors Reed College alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American neuroscientists Memory researchers 20th-century American psychologists Scientists from Portland, Oregon {{Neuroscience-stub