Sperry, Roger Wolcott (1913-1994), an American neurologist, shared the 1981 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Canadian-born scientist David H. Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel from Sweden. The three scientists were honored for their study of brain functions.
Sperry’s research focused on separating and identifying different functions of the left and right hemispheres of the human brain. The hemispheres of the brain differ, with each hemisphere having the chief responsibility for certain functions. Sperry developed surgical and experimental techniques to study the functions of each brain hemisphere separately. These techniques helped determine where certain mental processes take place within the brain. Sperry found that in most people, the left hemisphere of the brain largely controls language ability and analytical tasks, while the right hemisphere is the main center for musical ability, the ability to recognize and sort objects, and recognizing faces.
Sperry was born in Hartford, Connecticut. He studied literature and psychology at Oberlin College in Ohio, receiving his M.A. in psychology in 1937. He studied nerve function in animals at the University of Chicago, receiving a Ph.D. in zoology there in 1941. Sperry held many teaching and research positions before he joined the staff of the California Institute of Technology in 1954 as Hixon professor of psychobiology. He retired in 1984.
