Elliot Valenstein

Elliot S. Valenstein is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan and former Chairman of the Biopsychology Program. He is the author of more than 160 scientific articles (one of which has become a “Citation Classic”) and ten books, several of which have been translated into different languages. These books include, among others, BRAIN CONTROL, the award winning GREAT AND DESPERATE CURES, BLAMING THE BRAIN, and the highly praised THE WAR OF THE SOUPS AND THE SPARKS: THE DISCOVERY OF NEUROTRANSMITTERS AND THE DISPUTE OVER HOW NERVES COMMUNICATE. His book. JAI HIND: THE AMAZING LIFE OF SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE, WHO OPPOSED GANDHI, ALLIED WITH NAZI GERMANY AND JAPAN, AND IS NOW REVERED THROUGHOUT INDIA is based on experiences he had serving in China, Burma, and India during World War II. His latest book is BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN. PSYCHOLOGY, NEUROSCIENCE , AND POLITICS IN THE SOVIET UNION describes his impressions formed during 1961 when he spent the year visiting science laboratories in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

The primary foci of Professor Valenstein's laboratory research and scholarly activities have been the biological factors that influence emotion, motivation and reward, the contribution of hormones to behavior, and the history of somatic treatments of mental illness. After returning from army service at the end of the war, Professor Valenstein graduated from the City College of New York (B.S.) and the University of Kansas (M.A., Ph.D.). His first major position was at the Walter Reed Institute of Research where he became Chief of the Neuropsychology Section. Subsequently, he was Senior Scientist at the Fels Research Institute and Professor at Antioch College, and in 1970, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan.