Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 1951) is a neuroscientist known for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics. He is the Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, and is currently a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Neurosciences Graduate Program at the University of California, San Diego.

Ramachandran is noted for his use of experimental methods that rely relatively little on complex technologies such as neuroimaging. According to Ramachandran, "too much of the Victorian sense of adventure has been lost." Despite the apparent simplicity of his approach, Ramachandran has generated many new ideas about the brain. He has been called "The Marco Polo of neuroscience" by Richard Dawkins and "the modern Paul Broca" by Eric Kandel. In 1997 Newsweek named him a member of "The Century Club", one of the "hundred most prominent people to watch" in the 21st century. In 2011 Time listed him as one of "the most influential people in the world" on the "Time 100" list.