RUTTER, CORBALLIS, BECK

psychiatry & cognitive neuroscience pay their respects to professors rutter, beck & corballis, who worked on autism, depression & brain lateralisation, respectively.  

reported in: The New York Times by Richard Sandomir on 7th November 2021 & The BBC on 1st November 2021 & Twitter by Steven Dakin on 15th November 2021

this story was in episode 21 #rutter #beck #corballis #brain #health


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the New York Times reports the death of Professor Sir Michael Rutter. Rutter was the first psychiatrist in Britain to specialise in children's mental health. he worked at the Maudsley hospital in London for 45 years, studying the genetics & neurobiology of autism & other conditions. he published work contradicting the claims - now shown to be fraudulent - that vaccines could cause autism.

another psychiatrist, Professor Aaron Beck, has also departed. the BBC names him the father of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, noting that his daughter also founded the CBT institute that bears their name. Beck's Depression Inventory - a checklist to assess depression - was published 50 years ago & has since been cited nearly 50000 times.

finally, Michael Corballis died this month, after a career in cognitive neuroscience working, amongst other things, on cerebral lateralisation - the differences between left & right sides of the brain. colleagues on twitter remembered his inspirational teaching, his kindness, brilliance, & the time he opened a keynote speech by placing a box of Jaffa Cakes on the lectern.


conclusion

rest in peace