Prof. Dr. Ernst Pöppel  

Prof. Dr. Ernst Pöppel  
Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Germany 

Pöppel studied psychology and biology and received his PhD degree in Innsbruck (Austria). As PostDoc he did some neurophysiological studies at a Max-Planck-Institute in Munich (Germany). At the MIT in Cambridge (USA) where he worked for several years he discovered a phenomenon known as “blindsight”. He got a “habilitation” for Sensory Physiology in a Medical Faculty (“Dr. med. habil.”), and another “habilitation” in psychology in a Faculty of Science (“Dr. phil. habil.”). In 1976 he became full professor for “Medical Psychology” in the Medical Faculty of Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), Munich. Because of his interdisciplinary profile he was asked to join as Board Member the National Research Center Jülich (Germany); here he founded Centers for the Neurosciences, Environmental Research and Mathematical Modeling. Then he founded the “Human Science Center” at LMU, an interdisciplinary center with some 100 members worldwide. He has supervised more than 200 doctoral students from more than 40 countries. He has published more than 300 scientific papers and some ten books for the general public. His research focuses mainly on temporal processing, visual perception, and theoretical issues. On the basis of his scientific contributions he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Germany (ML). He received numerous awards like honorary doctoral degrees. On a personal note: Being a victim of World War II, and becoming a refugee, this became his political motto: “Scientists are Natural Ambassadors”. Scientists are the only ones who independent of external constraints (religions, histories, social systems, financial opportunities, or else) pursue the path to understand the world around us and the world within us.