The double helix of DNA was unravelled, as was the transcription formula for building cells. However, the functioning of one part of our bodies remained a mystery: the brain.
We have more than a hundred billion (1011) neurons in our brain. And like the trees in a forest, the neurons of our brain touch on average a thousand other neurons. The point of touching, where the communication takes place, is called a synapse. With a hundred billion (1011) neurons and, on average, a thousand synapses, we have in total a hundred trillion (1014) connection points. It is the passing of chemicals – neurotransmitters – across these connection points that account for our consciousness and thinking processes.
Is it possible to accurately model, simulate and visualize the functioning of the human brain, beginning from the neuron level? This is a challenge of enormous proportions that has been taken up by the Blue Brain Project at the Brain Mind Institute, EPFL.
Bob Bishop is the Founder and Chairman of BBWORLD Consulting Services Sarl, a Geneva based hi-tech strategic advisory organization.
ReplyDeleteHe served as Chairman and CEO of SGI from 1999 to 2005, and founded SGI World Trade Corporation, from which position he built and orchestrated all of SGI’s business outside of North America in the period 1986 to1999.
Prior to joining Silicon Graphics, Inc., from 1982 to 1986 Dr. Bishop was the International Vice President for Apollo Computer, Inc., and from 1968-1982 he advanced through numerous global management positions at Digital Equipment Corporation.
Before commencing his 40 year professional career in the field of technical and scientific computing, Dr. Bishop spent 3 years as a research scientist in the developmental phase of medical ultrasonics and NMR.
Dr. Bishop has familiarized himself with global issues by living with his family in five countries: Australia, Japan, USA, Germany and Switzerland.
Bishop is an Australian Citizen involved in a broad range of global initiatives: he is a Fellow of the Australian Davos Connection and is a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. He serves on the advisory panels for National ICT Australia (NICTA), the Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia, and UCLA’s Laboratory of Neuro Imaging. He is also a founding participant in Japan’s forum for Science and Technology in Society.
Bishop earned a B.Sc.(First Class Honors) in mathematical physics from the University of Adelaide, Australia, an M.Sc. from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, and his Dr.Sc. honoris causa from the University of Queensland.
In May of 2006, Dr. Bishop was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his role in helping NASA’s space shuttles successfully return-to-flight after the 2003 Columbia disaster.
In November 2006, Dr. Bishop became chair of the advisory committee for EPFL’s Blue Brain Project under the leadership of Professor Henry Markram, Lausanne, Switzerland.
International Centre for Earth Simulation
ReplyDeleteHelping guide the successful transformation of human society
in an era of rapid climate change and frequent natural disasters.
http://www.icesfoundation.org/
The ICES Foundation is a not-for-profit tax-exempt Swiss Foundation that was created in Geneva in the month of January 2010 for the purpose of attracting finances to build and operate a Swiss-based International Centre for Earth Simulation (ICES), and to build a global network of partner activities.