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Table of Contents
Sir John Eccles was an Australian neurophysiologist and philosopher who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, for his work on the synapse. He was internationally recognized for his remarkable and outstanding impact on the neurosciences for more than six decades.
See the fact file below for more information on the John Eccles or alternatively, you can download our 20-page John Eccles worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
CHILDHOOD AND EARLY LIFE
- John Carew Eccles was born on January 27, 1903, in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- His father, William James Eccles, and mother, Mary Carew, were both teachers.
- John was homeschooled, as were his two sisters, until the age of 12.
- He initially attended Warrnambool High School (now Warrnambool College).
- He then completed his final year of schooling at Melbourne High School.
- At age 17, he won a scholarship to study Medicine at the University of Melbourne, where he enrolled.
- Eccles was an enthusiastic athlete, and he even broke the Australian Universities’ pole vaulting record.
- In 1925, Eccles graduated from Melbourne with first-class honors in medicine at age 22.
- He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, which took him to the University of Oxford, where he was awarded a PhD in 1929.
- In 1927, Eccles received first-class honors in ‘Natural Sciences’, the ‘Christopher Welch Scholarship’, and a ‘Junior Research Fellowship’.
- He also joined the ‘Exeter College, Oxford’.
- In 1934, he received a University Demonstratorship, as well as a tutorial fellowship at the Magdalen College.
CAREER
- In 1937, He returned back to Australia as the Director of Pathology at a small medical research center in Sydney named ‘Kanematsu Institute’ under the ‘Sydney Medical School’.
- During the period of 1937 to 1943, Eccles was involved in research on the neuromuscular reactions in frogs and cats.
- He devoted the latter part of this period to experiments to help the war effort.
- He was a Professor of Physiology at the University of Otago, New Zealand, from 1944 to 1951, where he did his own experiments on the central nervous system.
- He worked as a Professor of Physiology at the Australian National University, Canberra, from 1952 to 1966. He called this time his scientific golden years. He completed his Nobel Prize-winning research and published over four hundred papers.
- In 1966, he joined the ‘Institute for Biomedical Research’, located in Chicago, where he carried on his research on synapses.
- He was not happy with the working conditions at the Institute in Chicago and in 1968, he joined the ‘State University of New York’ in Buffalo, New York, in the United States.
- He remained with this university until he retired in 1975.
- After retirement, he left the United States and fled to Switzerland. He wrote on the problems regarding the relationship between the mind and the body.
MAJOR WORKS
- His book, The Wonder of Being Human: Our Brain and our Mind, was written in collaboration with Daniel N. Robinson. It was published in 1984.
- His own book, Mind and Brain: The Many-Faceted Problems, came out in 1985.
- How the Self Controls Its Brain, which served as his last book, was published in 1994.
PERSONAL LIFE AND DEATH
- Eccles married his first wife, Irene Frances Miller, in 1928. Irene was a devout Catholic.
- He had nine children with Irene – five daughters and four sons. One of his daughters, Rosamond, became a neurophysiologist and worked with him.
- The couple divorced in 1968.
- He married his second wife, Helena Taborikova, who was also a colleague, in 1968.
- Helena was a Czechoslovakian neurophysiologist with an M.D. She also worked with him at the Charles University during his research work.
- On May 2, 1997, Sir John Eccles died in Tenero-Contra, Locarno, Switzerland.
TRIVIA
- Eccles was a Christian. He was occasionally a practicing Roman Catholic.
- Eccles believed in a Divine Providence that operated over and above the materialistic happenings of biological evolution.
John Eccles Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the John Eccles across 20 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use John Eccles worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Sir John Eccles who was an Australian neurophysiologist and philosopher who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, for his work on the synapse. He was internationally recognized for his remarkable and outstanding impact on the neurosciences for more than six decades.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- John Eccles Facts
- Eccles Report
- The Pride Of Australia
- Neuroscience
- Eccles Major Events
- Design A Book
- Unlike Other Scientists
- Key Concepts
- Women In His Life
- Homeschooling
- Commemorative Stamp
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