View source for David H. Hubel

{{Short description|Canadian neurophysiologist (1926–2013)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| image             = DHUBEL.jpg
| caption           = Hubel in 1992
| birth_name        = David Hunter Hubel
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1926|2|27}}
| birth_place       = [[Windsor, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date        = {{death date and age|2013|9|22|1926|2|27}}
| death_place       = [[Lincoln, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| citizenship       =
| nationality       = American-Canadian<ref name="nobelprize1981">{{Nobelprize|accessdate=2020-10-11|name=David H. Hubel}}</ref>
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = [[Neurophysiologist]]
| work_institutions = {{Plainlist|
* [[Johns Hopkins School of Medicine]]
* [[Harvard University]]}}
| alma_mater        = [[McGill University]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| doctoral_students = 
| known_for         = [[Visual system]]
| influences        = 
| influenced        = 
| spouse            = {{marriage|Ruth Izzard|1953}}
| prizes            = {{Plainlist|
* [[Rosenstiel Award]] {{small|(1971)}}
* [[Karl Spencer Lashley Award]] {{small|(1977)}}
* [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] <small>(1978)</small>
* [[Dickson Prize]] {{small|(1980)}}
* [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] {{small|(1981)}}
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|ForMemRS]] {{small|(1982)}}<ref name=formemrs/><ref name=rsbm>{{cite journal|last1=Wurtz|first1=Robert H.|title=David Hunter Hubel. 27 February 1926 — 22 September 2013|journal=[[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]]|volume=62|pages=233–246|year=2016|doi=10.1098/rsbm.2016.0022|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|location=London|author-link1=Robert Wurtz|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience]] <small>(1993)</small> 
}}
}}
'''David Hunter Hubel''' {{post-nominals|FRS}} (February 27, 1926&nbsp;– September 22, 2013) was an [[American Canadian]] [[neurophysiologist]] noted for his studies of the structure and function of the [[visual cortex]]. He was co-recipient with [[Torsten Wiesel]] of the 1981 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] (shared with [[Roger W. Sperry]]), for their discoveries concerning [[Information processing (psychology)|information processing]] in the [[visual system]]. For much of his career, Hubel worked as the Professor of Neurobiology at [[Johns Hopkins University]] and [[Harvard Medical School]]. In 1978, Hubel and Wiesel were awarded the [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] from [[Columbia University]].<ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Hubel | first1 = D. H. 
| last2 = Wiesel | first2 = T. N. 
| title = Receptive fields of single neurones in the cat's striate cortex 
| journal = The Journal of Physiology 
| volume =124 
| issue = 3 
| pages = 574–591 
| year = 1959 
| pmid = 14403679 
| pmc = 1363130
 | doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1959.sp006308
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal 
| last1 = Hubel | first1 = D. H. 
| last2 = Wiesel | first2 = T. N. 
| title = Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex 
| journal = The Journal of Physiology 
| volume = 160 
| issue = 45 
| pages = 106–154 
| year = 1962 
| pmid = 14449617 
| pmc = 1359523
 | doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1962.sp006837
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Livingstone | first1 = M. | last2 = Hubel | first2 = D. | doi = 10.1126/science.3283936 | title = Segregation of form, color, movement, and depth: Anatomy, physiology, and perception | journal = Science | volume = 240 | issue = 4853 | pages = 740–749 | year = 1988 | pmid =  3283936| bibcode = 1988Sci...240..740L }}</ref> In 1983, Hubel received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Hubel was born in [[Windsor, Ontario]], Canada, to American parents in 1926. His grandfather emigrated as a child to the United States from the Bavarian town of [[Nördlingen]]. In 1929, his family moved to [[Montreal]], where he spent his formative years. His father was a  chemical engineer and Hubel developed a keen interest in science right from childhood, making many experiments in chemistry and electronics.<ref name=nobelprize1981/> From age six to eighteen, he attended Strathcona Academy in [[Outremont, Quebec]], about which he said, "[I owe] much to the excellent teachers there, especially to Julia Bradshaw, a dedicated, vivacious history teacher with a memorable Irish temper, who awakened me to the possibility of learning how to write readable English."<ref name=nobelprize1981/> He studied [[mathematics]] and [[physics]] at [[McGill University]], and then completed medical school there in 1951 and followed that with three years of residency (a year of internship and two of residency in neurology) at the [[Montreal General Hospital]].<ref name="nobelprize1981"/><ref>David H. Hubel, [[Torsten N. Wiesel]]. ''Brain and Visual Perception: The Story of a 25-Year Collaboration''. Oxford University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0195176189}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://hubel.med.harvard.edu/index.html |title=Eye, Brain, and Vision |publisher=Hubel.med.harvard.edu |access-date=2015-11-09 |archive-date=2020-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115043056/http://hubel.med.harvard.edu/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HMS.Count:med00112 |title=Hubel, David H., 1926- .Papers, 1953-2005 (inclusive), 1966-1991 (bulk): Finding Aid |publisher=Nrs.harvard.edu |access-date=2015-11-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cdnmedhall.ca/laureates/davidhubel |title=David H. Hubel, MD |website=Canadian Medical Hall of Fame|access-date=2021-10-17}}</ref><ref name="David H. Hubel Biographical">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1981/hubel/biographical/ |title=David H. Hubel Biographical |website=The Nobel Prize|access-date=2021-10-17}}</ref>

== Career ==
In 1954, Hubel moved to the United States to work at [[Johns Hopkins School of Medicine]] as an assistant resident in Neurology.<ref name="David H. Hubel Biographical"/> He was later [[conscription|drafted]] by the army and served at [[Walter Reed Army Institute of Research]] (WRAIR).  There, he began recording from the primary visual cortex of sleeping and awake cats. At WRAIR, he invented the modern metal [[Microneurography|microelectrode]] out of Stoner-Mudge lacquer and tungsten, and the modern hydraulic microdrive, which he had to learn basic machinist skills to produce. In 1958, Hubel moved to Johns Hopkins and began his collaborations with Wiesel, and discovered orientation selectivity and columnar organization in the visual cortex. One year later, he joined the faculty of [[Harvard University]].  In 1981, Hubel became a founding member of the [[World Cultural Council]].<ref>{{cite web | title = About Us | publisher = [[World Cultural Council]] | url = http://www.consejoculturalmundial.org/about-us/ | access-date = November 8, 2016}}</ref>  From 1988 to 1989 he was the president of the [[Society for Neuroscience]]. He was a member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]], the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]], and the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Hunter Hubel |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/david-hunter-hubel |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=David H. Hubel |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/54354.html |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=David+H.+Hubel&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

==Research==
[[File: David_H._Hubel.jpg|thumb|Hubel in his lab, 1980]]

The Hubel and [[Torsten Wiesel|Wiesel]] experiments greatly expanded the scientific knowledge of sensory processing. The partnership lasted over twenty years and became known as one of the most prominent research pairings in science.<ref name=nytimes/> In one experiment, done in 1959, they inserted a [[electrode|microelectrode]] into the [[primary visual cortex]] of an anesthetized cat. They then projected patterns of light and dark on a screen in front of the cat. They found that some [[neuron]]s fired rapidly when presented with lines at one angle, while others responded best to another angle. Some of these neurons responded to light patterns and dark patterns differently. Hubel and Wiesel called these neurons [[simple cell]]s."<ref>
{{cite book
|title = Brain and visual perception: the story of a 25-year collaboration
|author = David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel
|publisher = Oxford University Press US
|year = 2005
|isbn = 978-0-19-517618-6
|page = 106
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8YrxWojxUA4C&pg=PA106 }}</ref>
Still other neurons, which they termed [[complex cell]]s, detected edges regardless of where they were placed in the [[receptive field]] of the neuron and could preferentially detect motion in certain directions.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Hubel|first=David|title=Eye, Brain and Vision|journal=Nature|year=1993|volume=362|issue=6419|page=419|doi=10.1038/362419a0|bibcode=1993Natur.362..419S|s2cid=35236366|doi-access=free}}, Chapter 4, pg 16</ref>  These studies showed how the visual system constructs complex representations of visual information from simple stimulus features.<ref name=goldstein2001>
{{cite book
|title = Sensation and Perception
|author = Goldstein
|edition = 6th
|publisher = London: Wadsworth
|year = 2001
}}</ref>

Hubel and Wiesel received the Nobel Prize for two major contributions: firstly, their work on the development of the visual system, which involved a description of [[ocular dominance column]]s in the 1960s and 1970s; and secondly, their work establishing a foundation for visual neurophysiology, describing how signals from the eye are processed by visual parcels in the neo-cortex to generate edge detectors, motion detectors, stereoscopic depth detectors, and color detectors, building blocks of the visual scene. By [[Monocular deprivation|depriving kittens of using one eye]], they showed that columns in the primary visual cortex receiving inputs from the other eye took over the areas that would normally receive input from the deprived eye. This has important implications for the understanding of deprivation [[amblyopia]], a type of visual loss due to unilateral visual deprivation during the so-called [[critical period]]. These kittens also did not develop areas receiving input from both eyes, a feature needed for [[binocular vision]]. Hubel and Wiesel's experiments showed that the ocular dominance develops irreversibly{{Verify source|date=July 2013|reason=Hubel has been cited as stating their experiments do ''not'' show irreversibility, see the article on Susan R. Barry.}} early in childhood development. These studies opened the door for the understanding and treatment of childhood [[cataract]]s and [[strabismus]]. They were also important in the study of cortical [[Neuroplasticity|plasticity]].<ref name=goldstein2001/>

Furthermore, the understanding of sensory processing in animals served as inspiration for the [[Scale-invariant feature transform|SIFT]] descriptor (Lowe, 1999), which is a local feature used in [[computer vision]] for tasks such as [[object recognition]] and wide-baseline matching, etc. The [[Scale-invariant feature transform|SIFT]] descriptor is arguably the most widely used feature type for these tasks. Hubel was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1982|Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1982]].<ref name=formemrs>{{cite web|title=Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660-2015 |url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015185820/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml |archive-date=2015-10-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Hubel married Ruth Izzard in 1953; she died February 17, 2013.<ref>Boston Globe: [http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?pid=163217003#fbLoggedOut Shirley Ruth (Izzard) Hubel] Legacy.com. Retrieved 25 September 2013</ref> The couple had three sons and four grandchildren.<ref name=nytimes>Denise Gellene (24 September 2013): [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/science/david-hubel-nobel-winning-scientist-dies-at-87.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&hpw David Hubel, Nobel-Winning Scientist, Dies at 87] ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 25 September 2013</ref> He died in [[Lincoln, Massachusetts|Lincoln]], [[Massachusetts]], from kidney failure on September 22, 2013, at the age of 87.<ref name="natureobit">{{Cite journal | last1 = Shatz | first1 = C. J. | title = David Hunter Hubel (1926–2013) Neuroscientist who helped to reveal how the brain processes visual information| doi = 10.1038/502625a | journal = Nature | volume = 502 | issue = 7473 | page = 625 | year = 2013 | pmid =  24172972| doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name=wp>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/david-h-hubel-nobel-prize-winning-neuroscientist-dies-at-87/2013/09/23/5a227c2c-7167-11e2-ac36-3d8d9dcaa2e2_story.html |title=David H. Hubel, Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist, dies at 87 |last=Botelho |first=Alyssa A. |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2013-09-24 |access-date=2013-09-24}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Neocognitron]]

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== External links ==
* {{Nobelprize}}
* [https://id.lib.harvard.edu/ead/med00112/catalog David H. Hubel papers, 1953-2005 (inclusive), 1966-1991 (bulk) H MS c 253. Harvard Medical Library, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Boston, Mass.]
* [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/hubel-david.pdf Robert H. Wurtz, "David H. Hubel", Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences (2014)]
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1981 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Founding members of the World Cultural Council}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubel, David H.}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian expatriate academics in the United States]]
[[Category:Canadian neuroscientists]]
[[Category:Canadian Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Canadian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Founding members of the World Cultural Council]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:History of neuroscience]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty]]
[[Category:United States Army Medical Corps officers]]
[[Category:McGill University Faculty of Science alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:People from Windsor, Ontario]]
[[Category:Neurophysiologists]]
[[Category:Vision scientists]]
[[Category:McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni]]
[[Category:Canadian neurologists]]
[[Category:Canadian fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Society for Neuroscience]]