Background
Rall, Wilfrid was born on August 29, 1922 in Los Angeles, California, United States. Son of Udo and Doris (Keiser) Rall.
artist researcher neuroscientist
Rall, Wilfrid was born on August 29, 1922 in Los Angeles, California, United States. Son of Udo and Doris (Keiser) Rall.
Bachelor of Science summa cum laude, Yale University, 1943. Master of Science, University of Chicago, 1948. Doctor of Philosophy, University New Zealand, 1953.
Junior physicist Manhattan Project, University of Chicago, 1943-1946.
Biophysics fellow University of Chicago, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, 1946-1948. Lecturer, senior lecturer physiology, biophysics U. Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 1949-1956.
Head biophysics division Naval Medical.
He is considered one of the founders of computational neuroscience, and was a pioneer in establishing the integrative functions of neuronal dendrites. Rall developed the use of cable theory in neuroscience, as well as passive and active compartmental modeling of the neuron. He was involved with the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago during the war, and subsequently worked with King’s Scholar Cole at Woods Hole.
He then moved to the University of Otago in Dunedin to work with John Carew Eccles for his Doctor of Philosophy, and remained there after Eccles" departure for Australia.
In 1954 he spent a sabbatical year at University College London in the Biophysics Department headed by Bernard Katz, and after a final year in Dunedin (where he was Acting Head of Department) he then moved to Bethesda, Maryland and the National Institutes of Health, where he remained until his retirement in 1994. Rall"s work has led to a number of major conceptual breakthroughs, including the following:
the application of cable theory to single neurons (Rall 1957, 1959, 1960)
the first theoretical exploration of active dendrites (Rall and Shepherd, 1968)
the first theoretical exploration of active spines (Rall 1974.
Miller, Rall and Rinzel, 1985).
Fellow: American Academy Arts and Sciences. Member: Society Neurosci. (Swartz prize 2008).
Married Ava Lou Freed, 1946 (deceased). Married Mary Ellen Condon, 1983. Children: Sara East., Madelyn Rall Badger.