Cai Qiao or Chiao Tsai () was a Chinese physiologist and physician. Cai is famous for his discovery in the 1920s of the

ventral tegmental area The ventral tegmental area (VTA) (tegmentum is Latin for ''covering''), also known as the ventral tegmental area of Tsai, or simply ventral tegmentum, is a group of neurons located close to the midline on the floor of the midbrain. The VTA is the ...

, which is also known as the ventral tegmental area of Tsai. He was elected as a member of

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

in 1948, also a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955.

Early life and education

Cai finished his psychological training in California University during 1919–21, then he entered University of Chicago as a postgraduate with Harvey A. Carr's guidance, he also focused on the subjects overlap psychology such as neuroanatomy and physiology during this period, and finally altered his research field towards the latter thenceforth.

Career

Cai returned to China in 1925, and took a post of professor of physiology at Fudan University. He transferred to

National Shanghai Medical College The Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, formerly the independent Shanghai Medical University (SHMU), is one of the oldest and most prestigious medical schools in China. Clinical medicine of the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University ...

two years later. Then he edited the first textbook on physiology for undergraduate in Chinese, which was published in 1929. Cai went to UK and Germany as a senior visit scholar within laboratory of C. Lovatt Evans, and later, Edgar Adrian during 1930–32. Cai continued his teaching and research in Shanghai, until the beginning of 1937, began to teach at School of Medicine, National Central University. Cai moved to West China followed the university after the

Marco Polo Bridge Incident The Marco Polo Bridge Incident, also known as the Lugou Bridge Incident () or the July 7 Incident (), was a July 1937 battle between China's National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. Since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria ...

. He backed to Nanjing since the war over, and appointed as deputy dean of the school in 1948. After 1949, Cai joined PLA. Since the school moved to Xi'an, he went to Beijing and entered Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) in 1954 as vice president and chairman of Academic Council. From then on, he gradually laid the foundation of nautical physiology, aviation physiology and space physiology of China. He devoted to neurobiology later in life. Cai served as the general director of Chinese Association for Physiological Sciences during 1964–81, then the honours general director until he died in 1990. Although Cai was humiliated and once exiled to Hengshui,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, he kept the research.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cai, Qiao 1897 births 1990 deaths Chinese physiologists Educators from Guangdong Academic staff of Fudan University Members of Academia Sinica Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Academic staff of Nanjing University Academic staff of the National Central University People from Jieyang Physicians from Guangdong Scientists from Guangdong University of California alumni University of Chicago alumni Victims of the Cultural Revolution