Headshot of Eric Kandel.

Eric Kandel

University professor emeritus
Columbia University

Eric R. Kandel is university professor emeritus and professor emeritus of physiology and cellular biophysics, psychiatry, biochemistry, molecular biophysics and neuroscience at Columbia University. He is founding co-director of Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute, founding director of Columbia’s Kavli Institute for Brain Science, and Sagol Professor Emeritus of Brain Science at the Zuckerman Institute. He was also a senior investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1984 to 2022. In 2000, Kandel was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his studies of learning and memory. He has been awarded 24 honorary degrees. Kandel is the author of “In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind” (2006), “The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present” (2012), “Reductionism in Art and Brain Science: Bridging the Two Cultures” (Columbia, 2016), “The Disordered Mind: What Unusual Brains Tell Us About Ourselves” (2018), and “There Is Life After the Nobel Prize” (Columbia, 2022). He is also a co-author of “Principles of Neural Science” (2021), the standard textbook in the field of neuroscience.

From this contributor

Explore more from The Transmitter

A human silhouette with lines connecting the brain to various organs.

PIEZO channels are opening the study of mechanosensation in unexpected places

The force-activated ion channels underlie the senses of touch and proprioception. Now scientists are using them as a tool to explore molecular mechanisms at work in internal organs, including the heart, bladder, uterus and kidney.

By Calli McMurray
30 January 2026 | 6 min read
US Department of Health and Human Services building.

Latest iteration of U.S. federal autism committee comes under fire

The new panel “represents a radical departure from all past rosters,” says autism researcher Helen Tager-Flusberg.

By Angie Voyles Askham
29 January 2026 | 9 min read
Progenitors cells in the medial ganglionic eminence become increasingly organized during development as rows of brain imaging progress from top to bottom.

‘Tour de force’ study flags fount of interneurons in human brain

The newly discovered cell type might point to the origins of the inhibitory imbalance linked to autism and other conditions.

By Holly Barker
29 January 2026 | 4 min read

privacy consent banner

Privacy Preference

We use cookies to provide you with the best online experience. By clicking “Accept All,” you help us understand how our site is used and enhance its performance. You can change your choice at any time. To learn more, please visit our Privacy Policy.