Jan Bureš

Jan Bureš (13 June 1926 – 24 August 2012) was a Czech neurophysiologist and electrophysiologist. He was an expert on memory and other neurological phenomena. He is recipient of many Czech and foreign awards and is foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. He is the most cited Czech scientist in the field of neuroscience.

Biography Jan Bureš was born on 13 June 1926 in Čtyři Dvory (today integral part of České Budějovice).

He applied to the 1st Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. After finishing his studies in 1950, he stayed in Prague and joined the laboratory of Prof. Zdeněk Servít at the Czech Academy of Sciences, where he started his scientific career. He went to many conferences around the world, stayed in the Soviet Union and the United States. - both Western and Eastern.

After the Velvet Revolution, he again rose to the position of one of the most respected Czech scientists, which was confirmed by the large number of distinguished awards he received; he was also a member of many professional organizations and associations. He remained scientifically active until his 80s.

Scientific work Jan Bureš' work dealt mainly with the issues of spreading cortical depression, reflex epilepsy, conditioned taste aversion and spatial memory. One of the most important book publications in which he participated with his colleagues was Electrophysiological Methods in Biological Research. First published in 1960, this book has been regarded as a reference by many electrophysiologists worldwide and has seen several reprints. He also contributed to more than three hundred books and articles, and is the most cited Czech neuroscientist with a D-Index of 62 (assessment within a specific discipline) and more than 11,000 citations. In 1995, he was elected a foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was the first Czech to achieve this honour and, until 2015, the only. In 2000, he was elected a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2001, the Czech Academy of Sciences awarded him the Jan Evangelista Purkyně Medal of Honor for his merits in biomedical sciences. In 2003, he was also appointed honorary chairman of the IBRO (International Brain Research Organization) world neuroscience congress, which took place in Prague.

The Dr. Jan Bureš Award is awarded every year in the Czech Republic for research into Alzheimer's disease.

Every year, the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences organizes a series of lectures by world-renowned scientific personalities from the field under the name Bureš lectures.

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