Graeme Mitchison

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Graeme Mitchison (26 August 1944 - 13 April 2018) was an English mathematician, [1] scientist, musician, physicist [2] author with wide interests.

Career and Contributions

Mitchison had a long association with the University of Cambridge. He contributed to mathematics, molecular biology, and quantum computation.

One of Mitchison's notable contributions to biology was his work with Nobel laureate Francis Crick, where they presented a theory on REM sleep and neural networks. They hypothesized that dreaming allowed the brain to 'unlearn' certain unnecessary or irrelevant information. [3]

In addition to his scientific accomplishments, Mitchison was also a talented pianist [4] [5] and writer. [6]

Graeme Mitchison died of aggressive brain cancer on 13 April 2018, at the age of 73. [7]

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References

  1. Bretscher, Mark S.; Mitchison, Graeme. "Francis Harry Compton Crick OM. 8 June 1916 — 28 July 2004". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 63: 159–196. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2017.0010. ISSN   0080-4606.
  2. "The Physicist Behind the Physicist in the New McEwan". Big Think. 2010-04-02. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  3. "The Function of Dream Sleep". Francis Crick - Profiles in Science. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  4. "McEwan recircuits history to create a quirky alternate 1980s universe". thestar.com. 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  5. "Lit Life: Ian McEwan talks androids, consciousness and Alan Turing". The Seattle Times. 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  6. Obituaries, Telegraph (2018-07-12). "Graeme Mitchison, scientist, mathematician, pianist and writer – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  7. "Graeme Mitchison - 1944 to 2018". Shene Grammar School Old Boys. 2021-03-14. Retrieved 2023-07-10.