Rainer Walter "Ray" Guillery FRS (28 August 1929 – 7 April 2017) was a British

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

and

neuroanatomist Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure and organization of the nervous system. In contrast to animals with radial symmetry, whose nervous system consists of a distributed network of cells, animals with bilateral symmetry have segregated, defin ...

. He is best known for his discovery that in

Siamese cat The Siamese cat ( th, แมวไทย, Maeo Thai; แมวสยาม, Maeo Seeaam) is one of the first distinctly recognized breeds of Asian cat. Derived from the Wichianmat landrace, one of several varieties of cat native to Thailand (f ...

s with certain

genotype The genotype of an organism is its complete set of genetic material. Genotype can also be used to refer to the alleles or variants an individual carries in a particular gene or genetic location. The number of alleles an individual can have in a ...

s of the

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

gene, the wiring of the

optic chiasm In neuroanatomy, the optic chiasm, or optic chiasma (; , ), is the part of the brain where the optic nerves cross. It is located at the bottom of the brain immediately inferior to the hypothalamus. The optic chiasm is found in all vertebrate ...

is disrupted, with less of the nerve-crossing than is normal.

Early life and education

Guillery was born in Greifswald, Germany on 28 August 1929. He began his education as a medical student at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

(UCL) in 1948. He obtained his

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in 1951 and his PhD in 1954.

Career

Guillery taught at UCL for 11 years. In 1964 he went to

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded when Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, UW–Madison ...

, where he helped to start the new graduate programme in neuroscience. In 1977, he moved to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

to lead another new graduate neuroscience programme. In 1984, Guillery returned to the UK as head of the department of Human Anatomy and Dr. Lee's Professor of Anatomy at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, until 1996. He was then subsequently

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

at the

University of Wisconsin Medical School A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

and, , Honorary Emeritus Research Fellow at the Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit at Oxford. In 1989, Guillery was the founding

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of the ''

European Journal of Neuroscience The ''European Journal of Neuroscience'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of neuroscience. It was established in 1989 with Ray Guillery (then at the University of Oxford) as the founding editor-in-chief. The ...

''. He died on 7 April 2017 at the age of 87.

Honours

He was made a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1983, and a Fellow of University College London in 1987. In 1996, he delivered the J. W. Jenkinson Memorial Lectureship.

References

External links

''New Scientist''
14 September 1978 {{DEFAULTSORT:Guillery, Ray Fellows of the Royal Society British neuroscientists British anatomists People from Greifswald British physiologists University of Chicago faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Dr Lee's Professors of Anatomy Academic journal editors 1929 births 2017 deaths Members of Academia Europaea