William Samuel Bialek (born 1960, in Los Angeles, California) is a theoretical biophysicist and a professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

and

The Graduate Center, CUNY The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...

. Much of his work, which has ranged over a wide variety of theoretical problems at the interface of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

, centers around whether various functions of living beings are optimal, and (if so) whether a precise quantification of their performance approaches limits set by basic physical principles. Best known among these is an influential series of studies applying the principles of

information theory Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification (science), quantification, computer data storage, storage, and telecommunication, communication of information. The field was originally established by the works of Harry Nyquist a ...

to the analysis of the

neural encoding Neural coding (or Neural representation) is a neuroscience field concerned with characterising the hypothetical relationship between the Stimulus (physiology), stimulus and the individual or Neuronal ensemble, ensemble neuronal responses and the re ...

of information in the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

, showing that aspects of brain function can be described as essentially optimal strategies for adapting to the complex dynamics of the world, making the most of the available signals in the face of fundamental physical constraints and limitations. Bialek received his AB (1979) and PhD (1983) degrees in Biophysics from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. After postdoctoral appointments at the

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

in the Netherlands and at the

Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara. KITP is one of the most renowned institutes for theoretical physics in the world, and brings theorists in physics and rela ...

in Santa Barbara, he returned to Berkeley to join the faculty in 1986. In late 1990 he moved to the newly formed NEC Research Institute (now the NEC Laboratories) in Princeton. He is currently the John Archibald Wheeler/Battelle Professor in Physics at Princeton University, and a member of the multidisciplinar
Lewis–Sigler Institute
In addition, he serves as Visiting Presidential Professor of Physics at

. Bialek has made contributions to shaping the education of the next generation of scientists, such as organizing the Princeton Lectures on Biophysics, a series of workshops that provided many young physicists with an introduction to the challenges and opportunities at the interface with biology. The textbook he coauthored, ''Spikes: Exploring the neural code'' has also been similarly used by many young physics students as an introduction to neuroscience. He is currently involved in a major educational experiment at Princeton to create a truly integrated and mathematically sophisticate
introduction to the natural sciences
for first year college students. Most recently, he published ''Biophysics: Searching for Principles'', a textbook based on his course for PhD students.''Biophysics: Searching for Principles. ''W Bialek (Princeton University Press, 2012). http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9911.html

Honors

Bialek received the 2013

Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience The Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, established in 2008, is an annual award supported by the Swartz Foundation and administered by the Society for Neuroscience. The award "honors an individual whose activities have produ ...

from 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 ...

. A member of the National Academy of Sciences (US), he has also been honored for his teaching with the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

Prize and the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton. In 2017, he won the

Max Delbruck Prize The Max Delbruck Prize, formerly known as the Biological physics prize, is awarded by the Division of Biological Physics of the American Physical Society, to recognize and encourage outstanding achievement in biological physics research. The pri ...

, which is given by the Biological Division of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript for William Bialek on 25 August; 8 October; 16 October; 23 October; 28 October; 10 November; 2 December, 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives

William Bialek: Developing Unifying Theories For Biology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bialek, William Living people 21st-century American physicists 1960 births Theoretical physicists Princeton University faculty City University of New York faculty Graduate Center, CUNY faculty Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society