Biography

Yadin Dudai is Professor of Neurobiology (emeritus) at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, and the Albert and Blanche Willner Global Distinguished Professor of Neural Science at New York University. 

He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science. As a research fellow at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, he was among the pioneers of the field of neurogenetics of memory. Over the years, he has contributed to the understanding of brain and behavioral mechanisms of learning and memory, with a focus on encoding, consolidation and modification of long-term and remote memory of single naturalistic events in both animal models and in humans. 

In recent years, he has extended his research to the investigation of the mechanisms of memory in human groups, populations and cultures. Dudai has served in numerous senior academic and public posts, including Dean of the Faculty of Biology and Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Director of the Brain Research and Imaging Centers at the Weizmann Institute. He also served on senior advisory roles on national R&D strategy to the Israeli government, and on multiple advisory roles to international academic organizations and scientific institutions worldwide. 

Prof. Dudai is a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities and serves as the Chair of its Sciences Division.

Project Abstract

I investigate mechanisms of long-term cultural memory, using memory in Jewish culture as a model. New items tend to spill out of the reservoir of free recall of population memory within ca. 3 generations. My hypothesis is that they persist much longer provided they are converted into procedures that render inter-generational memory into personal episodic memory. This procedural reenactment shapes the life rhythm of individuals but also the rhythm of cultural memory and its differentiation into sub-cultures. I will further investigate this hypothesis within the intellectual platform of the Einstein Center Chronoi.

Selected Publications

A full CV and list of publications can be found here.