Biographical/Historical Information

Eric Kandel was born on Nov. 7, 1929, into a lower middle-class family in Vienna where his father Hermann Kandel had a toy store. After “Anschluss”, Eric and his brother Ludwig, who was 14 years old at the time, left Austria via Belgium for the U.S., where their uncle already lived in Brooklyn; the boys' parents joined them later. Before studying medicine, Eric studied history and literature at Harvard University. He then discovered his interest in neuroscience, and he became one of the leading scientists in this field. As a neuroscientist at Columbia University his work on the molecular biology of memory opened new methods of inquiry into the study of the brain and the mind. In 2000, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for demonstrating how memories are formed and stored at the molecular level.

In his 2012 book “The Age of Insight [New York : Random House]”, Kandel explained the cultural ferment of early-20th-century Vienna where artists and scientists began a revolution that expanded our conception of the mind to include both conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions.

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Citation

Dr. Eric R. Kandel : accepting the Leo Baeck Medal at the Center for Jewish History, November 17, 2015, Leo Baeck Institute, F 45480.