Im memoriam: Dr. Heinz Stephan

On 3 January 2016, Dr. Heinz Stephan, Emeritus Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, passed away at the age of 91.

The Max Planck Institute for Brain Research mourns a highly respected neuroscientist. Heinz Stephan devoted his scientific research to comparative studies of brain evolution and the relation between brain structure and lifestyle in mammals and reptiles. Heinz Stephan was the first scientist to present quantitative comparisons of evolutionary change in the individual functional brain systems, starting from insectivores, and all the way to humans. His research results found impressive resonance - at home as well as abroad.

Heinz Stephan´s scientific career in the Max Planck Society began in 1953 at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research where he worked as a research assistant. At first he was based in the Neuroanatomic Department in Giessen, then - since 1962 - in Frankfurt. In 1966 he became a Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt/Main. It is thanks to his outstanding scientific competence, his imaginative combination of quantitative and experimental-anatomical methods and his exemplary work style that the Institute has developed into a leading and highly prestigious research institution.

The current Directors and Directors Emeritus of the MPI for Brain Research in gratitude bid farewell to Heinz Stephan and will commemorate him.