Research

Wolf Singer's research is focused on the neuronal substrate of higher cognitive functions, and especially on the “binding problem”. How the distributed sub-processes in the brain are coordinated and bound together in order to give rise to coherent percepts and eventually conscious awareness is a central question of current research.

Career

• 2011 Director emeritus at the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research Senior Fellow of the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Germany
• 2008 Founding Director of the Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Germany
• 2006 Founding Director of the Ernst Strüngmann Forum, Germany
• 2004 Founding Director of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) , Germany
• 1981-2011 Director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany
• 1975 Habilitation for Physiology at the Medical Faculty, Technical University (TU) Munich, Germany
• 1971 Postdoc, Deptartment Psychology, University of Sussex, UK
• 1968 State Examination in Medicine and Defense of MD Thesis at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Munich, Germany
• 1964-1965 Medicine at Sorbonne, Troisième Cycle de Neurophysiologie, Faculté des Sciences, Paris, France
• 1962-1968 Study of Medicine at LMU Munich, Germany

Functions

• 2011 Consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture ad quincennium
• 2010 Member of the Scientific Commission of Life Sciences, Leopoldina
• 2004 Member of the Board of Directors of the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS)
• 2004 Member of the Board of Directors of the Brain Imaging Center (BIC)

Honours and Memberships

• 2013 Cothenius Medal of the Leopoldina
• 2011 Order of Merit (First Class) of the Federal Republic of Germany
• 2009 Kaloy Prize, University Geneva, Switzerland
• 2008 Dr. honoris causa Rutgers University, USA
• 2007 Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
• 2006 INNS Hebb Award
• 2005 Aschoff Prize, University Freiburg, Germany
• 2005 Dr. honoris causa University Oldenburg, Germany
• 2003 Hans Berger Prize, Society for Clinical Neurophysiology
• 2003 Communicator Prize, German Research Foundation
• 2003 Betty und David Koetser Prize, University Zurich, Switzerland
• 2003 Krieg Cortical Discoverer Award of the Cajal Club
• 2002 Ernst Hellmut Vits Prize, University Münster, Germany
• 2002 Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur
• 2002 La Medaille de la Ville de Paris, France
• 2001 Max Planck Prize for Public Science, Germany
• 2000 Körber Prize for the European Sciences
• 1998 Hessian Cultur Award
• 1998 Member of the German Academy of Science Leopoldina
• 1994 Zülch Prize
• 1994 Ernst Jung Prize for Science and Research
• 1992 Consultor of the Pontifical Council for Culture ad quincennium
• 1991 Prize of the IPSEN Foundation (shared with Thorsten Wiesel and Ursula Bellugi)