Richard Cytowic
Encyclopedia
Richard E. Cytowic is an American neurologist
and author who rekindled interest in studying synesthesia
in the 1980s. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
for his New York Times Magazine cover story about James Brady
, the Presidential Press Secretary shot in the brain during the assassination attempt on President Reagan
. Cytowic’s writing ranges from textbooks and music reviews, to his Metro Weekly
"Love Doctor" essays and brief medical biographies of Anton Chekhov
and Maurice Ravel
. His work is the subject of several documentaries.
In Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks
writes:
Cytowic is a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at George Washington University Medical Center, a Mentor at the Point Foundation
, and a member of the Advisory Board for Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law
.
to a physician father and artist mother, and grew up with an extended family of scientists and artists. His mother is ESPN
's "Super Nana Marge", Tim Tebow
's No. 1 fan. As a child, Cytowic liked taking things apart and putting them back together to figure out how they worked.
He attended Hun School of Princeton
(class of 1970), graduated cum laude from Duke University
, and received his M.D. from Wake Forest
's Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He studied further at London
's Queen Square (Institute of Neurology)
, and George Washington University Medical Center before founding a private clinic, Capitol Neurology.
Retired from clinical practice, Cytowic now mentors medical students at George Washington, writes and lectures. While in North Carolina
, he served as music critic for the Winston-Salem Journal
. He is enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing in the College of Arts and Sciences at American University
.
Reviews and essays
Lectures
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
and author who rekindled interest in studying synesthesia
Synesthesia
Synesthesia , from the ancient Greek , "together," and , "sensation," is a neurologically based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway...
in the 1980s. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for his New York Times Magazine cover story about James Brady
James Brady
James Scott "Jim" Brady is a former Assistant to the President and White House Press Secretary under U.S. President Ronald Reagan...
, the Presidential Press Secretary shot in the brain during the assassination attempt on President Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Cytowic’s writing ranges from textbooks and music reviews, to his Metro Weekly
Metro Weekly
Metro Weekly is a free weekly magazine-style publication for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. It was first published on May 5, 1994. Metro Weekly includes local news, interviews with community leaders and politicians, community event calendars,...
"Love Doctor" essays and brief medical biographies of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
and Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
. His work is the subject of several documentaries.
In Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks
Oliver Wolf Sacks, CBE , is a British neurologist and psychologist residing in New York City. He is a professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University, where he also holds the position of Columbia Artist...
writes:
In the 1980, Richard Cytowic made the first neurophysiological studies of synesthetic subjects... In 1989, he published a pioneering text, Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, and this was followed by a popular exploration of the subject in 1993, The Man Who Tasted ShapesThe Man Who Tasted ShapesThe Man Who Tasted Shapes is a book by neurologist Richard Cytowic about synesthesia.-Summary:The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, Cytowic describes his chance encounter during a dinner party on February 10, 1980 with MW, the "Man Who Tasted Shapes." Cytowic describes how his...
. Current techniques of functional brain imagine now give unequivocal evidence for the simultaneous activation or coactivation of two or more sensory areas of the cerebral cortex in synesthetes, just as Cytowic’s work predicted.
Cytowic is a Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology at George Washington University Medical Center, a Mentor at the Point Foundation
Point Foundation (LGBT)
The Point Foundation is the first and largest national foundation to support academic achievement in higher education among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students by providing financial support, mentoring and hope to meritorious students who are marginalized due to sexual orientation,...
, and a member of the Advisory Board for Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law
UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. It has been approved by the American Bar Association since 1950. It joined the Association of American Law Schools in 1952.- History :...
.
Biography
Cytowic was born on December 16, 1952 in Trenton, New JerseyTrenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
to a physician father and artist mother, and grew up with an extended family of scientists and artists. His mother is ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
's "Super Nana Marge", Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow
Timothy Richard "Tim" Tebow is an American football player who is currently the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He was drafted by the Broncos as the 25th overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft...
's No. 1 fan. As a child, Cytowic liked taking things apart and putting them back together to figure out how they worked.
He attended Hun School of Princeton
Hun School of Princeton
The Hun School of Princeton is a private, coeducational, secondary boarding school located in Princeton Township, New Jersey, United States. The school has a Princeton, New Jersey mailing address. The school serves students from grades 6 through high school. Currently, the headmaster is Jonathan...
(class of 1970), graduated cum laude from Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, and received his M.D. from Wake Forest
Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University is a private, coeducational university in the U.S. state of North Carolina, founded in 1834. The university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, is...
's Bowman Gray School of Medicine. He studied further at London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Queen Square (Institute of Neurology)
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery is a neurological hospital in London, United Kingdom and part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
, and George Washington University Medical Center before founding a private clinic, Capitol Neurology.
Retired from clinical practice, Cytowic now mentors medical students at George Washington, writes and lectures. While in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, he served as music critic for the Winston-Salem Journal
Winston-Salem Journal
The Winston-Salem Journal is a daily newspaper primarily serving the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and its county, Forsyth County, North Carolina. It also features coverage of Northwestern North Carolina and circulates as far west as Tennessee and north to Virginia.The paper is owned by...
. He is enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing in the College of Arts and Sciences at American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
.
Works
Books- Wednesday is Indigo BlueWednesday Is Indigo BlueWednesday Is Indigo Blue: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia is a 2009 non-fiction book written by Richard Cytowic and David Eagleman documenting the current scientific understanding of synesthesia, a perceptual condition where an experience of one sense causes an automatic and involuntary...
: Discovering the Brain of Synesthesia (with David EaglemanDavid EaglemanDavid Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia, and neurolaw...
), Foreword by Dmitri NabokovDmitri NabokovDmitri Vladimirovich Nabokov is an American opera singer and translator. He is the only child of writer Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera Nabokov, and is currently executor of his father's literary estate.-Background:...
(2009). Cambridge:MIT Press ISBN 978-0-26-201279-9 - The Man Who Tasted ShapesThe Man Who Tasted ShapesThe Man Who Tasted Shapes is a book by neurologist Richard Cytowic about synesthesia.-Summary:The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, Cytowic describes his chance encounter during a dinner party on February 10, 1980 with MW, the "Man Who Tasted Shapes." Cytowic describes how his...
(2003). Cambridge: MIT Press ISBN 978-0-26-253456-6 - Synesthesia: A Union of The Senses, 2nd edition (2002). Cambridge: MIT Press ISBN 978-0-26-2032964
- The Neurological Side of Neuropsychology (1996). Cambridge:MIT Press ISBN 978-0-26-2032315
- Nerve Block For Common Pain (1990). New York:Springer Verlag ISBN 0-387-971475
Reviews and essays
- Selected book reviews available here
- Selected Love Doctor essays available here.
- Chekhov and Ravel articles available here
Lectures
- A filmed gallery talk on synesthesia at Washington's Hirshhorn MuseumHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture GardenThe Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
, given as part of its visual musicVisual musicVisual music, sometimes called "colour music," refers to the use of musical structures in visual imagery, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods or devices which can translate sounds or music into a related visual presentation...
exhibit. - Conversation between Dr. Cytowic and Dr. Richard Frakowiak (London).
Artistic fellowships
- Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences, Rabun Gap, Georgia. Founded on the estate of Jay HambidgeJay HambidgeJay Hambidge was an American artist, born in Canada. He was a pupil at the Art Students' League in New York and of William Chase, and a thorough student of classical art. He conceived the idea that the study of arithmetic with the aid of geometrical designs was the foundation of the proportion and...
, the architect and mathematician who conceived of "Dynamic Symmetry". - Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation Fellow, Virginia Center for Creative Arts
External links
- Symposium on Synesthesia in Psyche: an interdisciplinary journal of research on consciousness