Susan Adele Greenfield is a British scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords. Greenfield, whose specialty is the physiology of the brain, has worked to research and bring attention to Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Greenfield is Professor of Synaptic Pharmacology at Lincoln College, Oxford. On 1 February 2006, she was installed as Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Until 8 January 2010, she was director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, but following a review, she was made redundant.
Greenfield's research is focused on brain physiology, particularly the etiology of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, but she is best known as a populariser of science. Her books include The Human Brain: A Guided Tour (1997), The Private Life of the Brain (2000), and Tomorrow’s People: How 21st Century Technology Is Changing the Way We Think and Feel (2003) and ID - The Quest for Identity was published in May 2008 by Hodder Publishing. She has spun off four companies from her research, made a diverse contribution to print and broadcast media, and led a Government report on Women In Science. She has received 29 Honorary Degrees, Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (2000), a non-political Life Peerage (2001) as well as the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur (2003). In 2006 she was installed as Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University and voted Honorary Australian of the Year. In 2007 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Related Links
- Susan Greenfield's Oxford home page
- Susan Greenfield's bio from the Social Issues Research Centre
- Susan Greenfield's Guardian profile
Susan Greenfield Quotes
When I was a kid, television was the centre of the home, rather like the Victorian piano was. It's a very different use of a television, when you're sitting around and enjoying it with others, compared to when you are going up to your room and watching it until two or three in the morning on your own. So it is not the technologies themselves that I'm criticising, but how they are used and the extent to which they are used.
Will it help someone cope by marinating their brain in Prozac? It's sad if we reduce our repertoire of emotions.
