Jan Bureš

Key takeaways

Jan Bureš belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jan Bureš to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jan Bureš from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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. However, he did not want to devote himself to clinical practice, but to research. During his studies, he married fellow student Olga Komorádová, who was two years older, and in 1949 they had a daughter, Olga, who later became an important expert in the field of cybernetics. 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 subsequently spent his entire working life in this institution. Already in the 1960s, he became one of the most respected workers there. He went to many conferences around the world, stayed in the Soviet Union and the United States. In the 1970s, he had political problems with the communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Subsequently, he was only allowed to work at the institute on the basis of one- to two-year contracts, which were always extended at the last minute, he traveled abroad to a minimum and was strictly supervised. His closest and most important scientific collaborator was his wife Olga, who was the co-author of a considerable number of his publications. At this time, however, he was allowed to accept a large number of foreign interns who traveled specially to see him in Czechoslovakia, and thus he educated a relatively large number of young neuroscientists from all corners of the world (over 100 interns from 27 countries) - both Western and Eastern. Many of them became well-known neuroscientists (e. g. André Fenton, Lynn Nadel, Ian Q. Whishaw). In addition, he also published extensively in scientific journals. 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. Toward the end of his life, he developed Alzheimer's disease and his health rapidly deteriorated. He lived in the care of his family and died on 24 August 2012 in Prague at the age of 86. After his death, a number of obituaries followed, celebrating his contribution to science and calling him one of the founding fathers of modern neuroscience.

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.

Awards and comments In 1992, he was awarded an honorary doctorate at the Canadian University of Lethbridge. 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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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jan Bureš

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jan Bureš claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jan Bureš before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jan Bureš ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jan Bureš

In research: Jan Bureš appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jan Bureš in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jan Bureš is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1926 births, 2012 deaths, Czech academics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jan Bureš outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Jan Bureš in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jan Bureš means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jan Bureš out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jan Bureš in simple terms?

Jan Bureš (13 June 1926 – 24 August 2012) was a Czech neurophysiologist and electrophysiologist. He was an expert on memory and other neurological phenomena.

Why does Jan Bureš matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jan Bureš?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jan Bureš.