John Carew Eccles was born on 27 January 1903 in Melbourne, Australia. A neurophysiologist, he won the Nobel Prize in 1963 for his work on the synapse. Eccles researched reflexes with Sherrington at Exeter College, Oxford until 1931, and thereafter, devoted his time to synaptic transmission and the central nervous system. In 1937, he left for Sydney to direct a medical research facility. Made Professor of Physiology at the University of Otago, he moved to the Australian National University in 1952. His final post was Professor of Neurobiology at The State University of New York at Buffalo.
Appointed Knight Bachelor in 1958, he won the Australian of the Year Award the same year he won the Nobel Prize. A Founding Member of the World Cultural Council, he was made Companion of the Order of Australia in 1990. Notable works include The Neurophysiological Basis of Mind (1953), The Physiology of Synapses (1964), The Cerebellum as a Neuronal Machine (1967), The Self and its Brain (1977), Mind and Brain: The Many-Faceted Problems (1985), and How the Self Controls the Brain (1994).
