astronomy

Robin Carhart-Harris

Robin Carhart-Harris is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Robin Carhart-Harris rather than just read about it. In short: Robin Lester Carhart-Harris (born 31 August 1980) is a British psychopharmacologist who is Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Previously, he founded and was Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Robin Lester Carhart-Harris (born 31 August 1980) is a British psychopharmacologist who is Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Previously, he founded and was Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. He is noted for brain imaging studies of psychedelic and psychoactive drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and DMT, and research into their therapeutic use in treating psychiatric disorders such as depression. In 2020, The Times named him one of the world's top 31 medical scientists. The following year, he was included in TIME magazine's "100 Next" list of 100 notable people "poised to make history".

Early life and career Carhart-Harris was born in Durham and grew up in Bournemouth. He first took LSD with his friends at the age of 14 in 1995. Per Carhart-Harris, this experience determined the path that his life would take. He took a BSc in Applied Psychology and Computing at Bournemouth University from 2001 to 2004. The following year, he moved to Brunel University and earned an MSc in Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Society. Between 2005 and 2009, he took his doctorate, focused on the psychopharmacology of the serotonin system, supervised by Sue Wilson and Marcus Munafo at the University of Bristol. Carhart-Harris joined David Nutt at Imperial College London in 2008, and they have been regular collaborators on the use of psychoactive drugs in treating a variety of psychiatric disorders. In 2014, while at Imperial, Carhart-Harris became the first scientist in 40 years to test the effects of LSD legally on human volunteers. In 2016, his team published promising findings from "the world's first modern research trial investigating the impact of psilocybin" on 19 patients with treatment-resistant depression. The study showed a decrease in symptoms of depression for at least three weeks. Three years later, he founded the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College, the first of its kind in the world, and remained its head for the next two years. In 2021, Carhart-Harris relocated to the United States when he was appointed Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor and Director of the Neuroscape Psychedelics Division in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Carhart-Harris' first book, How Psychedelics Work: The Hidden Mind and Our Power to Heal, is due to be published in February 2027.

Research interests Scientific study of psychedelic drugs was effectively halted in the early 1970s when the 1970 US Controlled Substances Act and 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances made substances such as LSD illegal across much of the world. Along with other academic researchers such as Roland R. Griffiths and Matthew W. Johnson of Johns Hopkins University, Robin Carhart-Harris is one of a growing number of scientists credited with rekindling interest in the field.

Carhart-Harris is noted for brain imaging studies and clinical trials of drugs such as LSD, psilocybin (the psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms), MDMA (ecstasy), and DMT (the psychoactive substance in ayahuasca) for treating psychiatric disorders, particularly treatment-resistant depression. His research has also compared the effectiveness of psychedelic drugs against conventional SSRI drug treatments for depression. Carhart-Harris believes psychedelics could be useful in treating other mental disorders, such as addiction and obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as potentially enhancing creative thinking. He has predicted that this type of research will "cross over into the mental health mainstream... as support for the use of psychedelics in medicine continues to gain momentum". Carhart-Harris believes psychedelics work by "breaking down habits of mind and brain and behavior", causing "a cascade of neurobiological changes that manifest at multiple scales and ultimately culminate in the relaxation of high-level beliefs". These changes include heightened neuroplasticity and disruption of the default mode network (responsible for background brain activities such as mind wandering and daydreaming). However, the issue remains controversial and there is no firm scientific consensus on how psychedelics achieve their effects.

Awards In 2008, Carhart-Harris earned the Bristol-Cardiff Young Neuroscientist Award. In 2015, he gained the British Association for Psychopharmacology Award. He won the 2018 Association for Behavior Analysis International B F Skinner award. In 2020, The Times named him one of the world's top 31 medical scientists. TIME magazine included him in its "100 Next" list of 100 people likely to make history in 2021. In 2023, the Vox news and opinion website named him one of its "Future Perfect 50", a list of "visionaries who have made an impact in their fields to improve lives now and in the future".

Other activities Carhart-Harris has been a scientific adviser to some biomedical companies.

Personal life Carhart-Harris is married with two children.

Selected publications

Accessible articles and op-ed pieces Carhart-Harris, Robin (1 January 2021). "Big pharma is about to tune in to the potential of psychedelics". Wired. Retrieved 19 August 2023. — (20 April 2021). "Psychedelics are transforming the way we understand depression and its treatment". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2023.

Book Carhart-Harris, Robin (2027). How Psychedelics Work: The Hidden Mind and Our Power to Heal. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781668063286. Retrieved 16 July 2026.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robin Carhart-Harris

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robin Carhart-Harris claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Robin Carhart-Harris 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 Robin Carhart-Harris 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 Robin Carhart-Harris

In research: Robin Carhart-Harris appears in astronomy 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 Robin Carhart-Harris 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: Robin Carhart-Harris is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980 births, Academics of Imperial College London, Alumni of Bournemouth University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robin Carhart-Harris 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.

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How to study Robin Carhart-Harris in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robin Carhart-Harris 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 Robin Carhart-Harris out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robin Carhart-Harris in simple terms?

Why does Robin Carhart-Harris matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Robin Carhart-Harris?

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 Robin Carhart-Harris.