Robert Sapolsky Information & Robert Sapolsky Links at HealthHaven.com

**Robert Morris Sapolsky**
Robert Morris Sapolsky
Born	1957;
Residence	United States
Nationality	American
Fields	neurology; neurobiology; behavioral science; biological anthropology
Institutions	Stanford University
Alma mater	Harvard University
Doctoral advisor	Bruce McEwen
Influences	E. O. Wilson, George Schaller, Richard Lewontin, Stephen Jay Gould, Robert Trivers
Notable awards	MacArthur Fellows Program
Religious stance	Humanist and atheist

For other persons named Robert Sapolsky, see Robert Sapolsky (disambiguation).

Robert Maurice Sapolsky (born 1957) is an American biologist and author. He is currently professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, and by courtesy, Neurosurgery, at Stanford University. In addition, he is a research associate at the National Museums of Kenya studying primate behavior.^[1]

[edit] Education

Sapolsky grew up in Brooklyn. His father was an architectural historian, sometimes having intellectual luminaries visit the house such as B. F. Skinner and Noam Chomsky.

Sapolsky received his B.A. in biological anthropology summa cum laude from Harvard University and subsequently attended Rockefeller University where he received his Ph.D. in Neuroendocrinology working in the lab of Bruce McEwen.

[edit] Career

Sapolsky is currently the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor at Stanford University, holding joint appointments in several departments, including Biological Sciences, Neurology & Neurological Sciences, and Neurosurgery.^[2]

A neuroendocrinologist, he has focused his research on issues of stress and neuronal degeneration, as well as on the possibilities of gene therapy strategies for protecting susceptible neurons from disease. Currently, he is working on gene transfer techniques to strengthen neurons against the disabling effects of glucocorticoids. Sapolsky also spends time annually in Kenya studying a population of wild baboons in order to identify the sources of stress in their environment, and the relationship between personality and patterns of stress-related disease in these animals. More specifically, Sapolsky studies the cortisol levels between the Alpha male and female and the subordinates to determine stress level. An early but still relevant example of his studies of olive baboons is to be found in his 1990 Scientific American article, "Stress in the Wild".^[3]

A 2008 National Geographic special highlighted his life's work on the evolutionary benefits and health risks of chronic stress in humans and other primates.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Sapolsky spoke at the 2009 "La Ciudad de las Ideas" (Ideas City) Festival.^[7]

[edit] Honors

Sapolsky has received numerous honors and awards for his work, including the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship genius grant in 1987^[8], an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, and the Klingenstein Fellowship in Neuroscience. He was also awarded the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award and the Young Investigator of the Year Awards from the Society for Neuroscience, the International Society for Psychoneuro-Endocrinology, and the Biological Psychiatry Society.

A Primate’s Memoir won the 2002 Bay Area Book Reviewers Association Award in nonfiction.^[9]

On the metalcore 2002 album The Repercussions of a Badly Planned Suicide, Johnny Truant's leading track is entitled "I Am The Primitologist Mr Robert Sapolsky". In 2002, his book A Primate's Memoir won a Royal Society Prize for Science Books. In 2007, he received the John P. McGovern Award for Behavioral Science, awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.^[10] Sapolsky won the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization at Wonderfest 2008.^[11] He was the 2008 winner of the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science.

Sapolsky delivered a Class Day lecture as part of the 2009 Stanford commencement exercises.^[12] ^[13]

[edit] Personal life

Although born into a devout Orthodox Jewish family, Sapolsky is an atheist.^[14]

[edit] See also

[edit] Selected works

[edit] Books

Stress, the Aging Brain, and the Mechanisms of Neuron Death (MIT Press, 1992) ISBN 0-262-19320-5
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (1994, Holt/Owl 3rd Rep. Ed. 2004) ISBN 0-8050-7369-8
The Trouble with Testosterone: And Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament (Scribner, 1997) ISBN 0-684-83891-5
Junk Food Monkeys (Headline Book Publishing, 1997) ISBN 978-0747276760
A Primate's Memoir (Touchstone Books, 2002) ISBN 0-7432-0247-3
Monkeyluv : And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals (Scribner, 2005) ISBN 0-7432-6015-5

[edit] Journal articles

Sapolsky, Robert (January 1990). "Stress in The Wild". Scientific American 262: 106-113.
Sapolsky, Robert; Lewis C. Krey, and Bruce S. McEwen (25 September 2000). "The Neuroendocrinology of Stress and Aging: The Glucocorticoid Cascade Hypothesis". Science of Aging Knowledge Environment 38: 21.
Sapolsky, Robert; L. Michael Romero and Allan U. Munck (2000). "How Do Glucocorticoids Influence Stress Responses? Integrating Permissive, Suppressive, Stimulatory, and Preparative Actions". Endocrine Reviews 21: 55–89. doi:10.1210/er.21.1.55. PMID 10696570.

[edit] Notes

^ "Robert Sapolsky". http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/sapolsky.html. Retrieved 22 FEB 2009.
^ Stanford Univ. detail of Prof. Sapolsky, http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Robert_Sapolsky, retrieved 2007-07-27
^ Sapolsky, Robert M. (1990). "Stress in the Wild". Scientific American, 262. 106-113
^ Stress: Portrait of a Killer, Stanford: National Geographic special featuring Sapolsky's research (video) September 24, 2008
^ Video: About stress 2008
^ Video: Stress Response: Savior to Killer 2008
^ R. Sapolsky = in Spanish 2009
^ "MacArthur Fellows List - July 1987". http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142695/k.2A0E/Fellows_List__July_1987.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-24.
^ 21st BABRA AWARDS 2002
^ "About AAAS: John McGovern Lecture". http://archives.aaas.org/awards.php?a_id=16. Retrieved 22 FEB 2009.
^ Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization Wonderfest 2008
^ Justice Anthony Kennedy to give Commencement address 2009-01-13
^ Video: How humans are unique in trying to overcome seemingly-impossible obstacles June 2009
^ Dan Barker: "When we invited Robert Sapolsky to speak at one of out national conventions to receive our 'Emperor Has No Clothes Award', Robert wrote to me, 'Sure! Get the local Holiday Inn to put up a sign that says Welcome, Hell-bound Atheists!' [...] So, welcome you hell-bound atheist to Freethought Radio, Robert." Sapolsky: "Well, delighted to be among my kindred souls." [...] Annie Laurie Gaylor: So how long have you been a kindred non-soul, what made you an atheist Robert?" Sapolsky: "Oh, I was about fourteen or so... I was brought up very very religiously, orthodox Jewish background and major-league rituals and that sort of thing [...] and something happened when I was fourteen, and no doubt what it was really about was my gonads or who knows what, but over the course of a couple of weeks there was some sort of introspective whatever, where I suddenly decided this was all gibberish. And, among other things, also deciding there's no free will, but not in a remotely religious context, and deciding all of this was nonsense, and within a two week period all of that belief stuff simply evaporated." Freethought Radio podcast (mp3), 3 February 2007 (accessed 22 April 2008).

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Robert Sapolsky

Robert Sapolsky profile at Stanford School of Medicine
http://www.barclayagency.com/sapolsky.html
Robert Sapolsky at Edge Foundation, Inc.
Robert Sapolsky at meta-library.net
Robert Sapolsky at KurzweilAI.net
Works by or about Robert Sapolsky in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

[edit] Dated

"Stress, Neurodegeneration and Individual Differences". 2001-10-10. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1877467554618436978. Retrieved 2007-07-27.
Going Wild 2001
"Video lecture: The Biology of Religion". http://blip.tv/file/2204956/. Retrieved 2009-07-06. Alt1 set: 1/2 2/2 (via RDFRS) Alt2 set: 1/2 2/2 Robert Sapolsky, Biology 150/250, Spring 2002, Human Behavioral Biology
Robert Sapolsky Fall 2002 Lecture at Syracuse University
Excerpt of the "Emperor Has No Clothes Award" acceptance speech Freedom From Religion Foundation convention in San Diego on Nov. 23, 2003. , April 2003
New York Times article "No Time for Bullies: Baboons Retool Their Culture," readable account of Sapolsky's research on baboon culture, April 13, 2004
NPR interview: Does Age Quash Our Spirit of Adventure? 2006
About atheism and religion: Part 1, Part 2 2008

[0] "Robert Sapolsky". http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/bios/sapolsky.html. Retrieved 22 FEB 2009.

[1] Stanford Univ. detail of Prof. Sapolsky, http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Robert_Sapolsky, retrieved 2007-07-27

[2] Sapolsky, Robert M. (1990). "Stress in the Wild". Scientific American, 262. 106-113

[3] Stress: Portrait of a Killer, Stanford: National Geographic special featuring Sapolsky's research (video) September 24, 2008

[4] Video: About stress 2008

[5] Video: Stress Response: Savior to Killer 2008

[6] R. Sapolsky = in Spanish 2009

[7] "MacArthur Fellows List - July 1987". http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142695/k.2A0E/Fellows_List__July_1987.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-24.

[8] 21st BABRA AWARDS 2002

[AAAS-9] "About AAAS: John McGovern Lecture". http://archives.aaas.org/awards.php?a_id=16. Retrieved 22 FEB 2009.

[10] Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization Wonderfest 2008

[11] Justice Anthony Kennedy to give Commencement address 2009-01-13

[12] Video: How humans are unique in trying to overcome seemingly-impossible obstacles June 2009

[13] Dan Barker: "When we invited Robert Sapolsky to speak at one of out national conventions to receive our 'Emperor Has No Clothes Award', Robert wrote to me, 'Sure! Get the local Holiday Inn to put up a sign that says Welcome, Hell-bound Atheists!' [...] So, welcome you hell-bound atheist to Freethought Radio, Robert." Sapolsky: "Well, delighted to be among my kindred souls." [...] Annie Laurie Gaylor: So how long have you been a kindred non-soul, what made you an atheist Robert?" Sapolsky: "Oh, I was about fourteen or so... I was brought up very very religiously, orthodox Jewish background and major-league rituals and that sort of thing [...] and something happened when I was fourteen, and no doubt what it was really about was my gonads or who knows what, but over the course of a couple of weeks there was some sort of introspective whatever, where I suddenly decided this was all gibberish. And, among other things, also deciding there's no free will, but not in a remotely religious context, and deciding all of this was nonsense, and within a two week period all of that belief stuff simply evaporated." Freethought Radio podcast (mp3), 3 February 2007 (accessed 22 April 2008).

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

Contents