Walle Nauta

Walle Jetze Harinx Nauta (June 8, 1916 – March 24, 1994) was a leading Dutch-American neuroanatomist, and one of the founders of the field of neuroscience. Nauta is best known for his silver staining, which helped to revolutionize neuroscience. He was an Institute Professor of neuroscience at MIT and also worked at the University of Utrecht, the University of Zurich, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and the University of Maryland. In addition, he was a founder and president of the Society for Neuroscience.

Early life Nauta was born on June 8, 1916, in Medan, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies. His father had traveled there from the Netherlands as a missionary of the Dutch Reformed Church, but his focus quickly evolved into improving the overall education, health, and governance of the Indonesians. Growing up in a household that emphasized ideas of social justice and empathy toward others contributed to Nauta's character and actions as he grew into a young man in the midst of World War II. He is remembered as a man intolerant of others' personal entitlement and having a strong passion for helping his fellow man. Dina stayed with the Nautas until the liberation of the city in May 1945. Here, Nauta became focused on creating a more efficient technique for tracing neural activity. After moving to the states, Nauta's first papers on neural connectivity carried out with his new silver staining technique began to appear. It was discovered by Ludwig Turck that anterograde degeneration can be used to trace axonal pathways in the nervous system.

Nauta received many prestigious awards: (1967) Distinguished Research Award of the American Neurological Society (1975) Boylston Medical Society Award (1978) Von Helmholz Award of the Cognitive Neuroscience Institute (1983) Henry Gray Award of the American Association of Anatomists Ralph W. Gerard Prize in Neuroscience (Society for Neuroscience) (1983) Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience Research (1988)