The Neuroscience Research Program (NRP) is an inter-university and international organisation founded during 1962 by Francis Otto Schmitt and others, which marked a key moment in the foundation of

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

as a discipline. A primary activity of the NRP was in making links between neural and

behavioural science Behavioral sciences explore the cognitive processes within organisms and the behavioral interactions between organisms in the natural world. It involves the systematic analysis and investigation of human and animal behavior through naturalistic o ...

s. The programs three core areas of interest were

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

, the Nervous system (''neural'') and psychology (3 core areas - p.228, Whither & six work sessions + conferences - p.233, primary activity & ISP's triennually - p.234) Funded by federal grants from the government of the United States of America, and additionally sponsored by

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 ...

, the program was headquartered at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences based in Boston House. It operated a twice weekly meeting with guest speakers talking on key issues pertaining to neuroscience, and published its findings through the Neuroscience Research program Bulletin to libraries and other individuals working in the field.Article - announcing the death of F.O.Schmitt
published October 4, 1995 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology News etrieved 2015-06-27/ref>(ed. this source used to add < an inter-university and international organisation >) Frank Schmitt had earlier organised a meeting (''seminar series'') of persons at M.I.T. during 1960 and 1961, who were interested in developing cross-disciplinary understandings in the fields of physics, chemistry, and the structural examination of the brain, together with using knowledge of new psychological, psychiatric and behavioural findings. During February 1962, Schmitt invited a select number of highly esteemed scientists to a meeting within New York city, at which they all agreed to formulate a new organisation, which was named at Schmitts' bequest, and due to be located at Brookline Massachusetts. The program held six ''work-sessions'' each year, conferences which gave rise to published reports, ''intensive study programs'' (ISP's) triannually, and special conferences which were held for specific projects, where scientists suggested ways in which the most progress in neuroscience might be made, these were referred to generally by the term ''Whither'', held both within the United States of America, and also at other international locations. Katheryn Cusick was executive secretary from 1964.Museum of M.I.T.
etrieved 2015-06-28/ref>

References

{{Authority control History of neuroscience