Biography
Neuroscience of Synapses
Max Bennett was born in Melbourne in 1939. He was an undergraduate in Electrical Engineering at Melbourne University, during which time he founded the Athenian Society that read papers in history and philosophy. On completing his degree in 1962 he carried out research for masters and doctoral degrees in Zoology in the laboratory of Geoffrey Burnstock. During this period he made his first major discovery in neuroscience, namely that synaptic transmission in the autonomic nervous system involves not only acetylcholine and noradrenaline but other transmitters, one of which turned out to be the ubiquitous ATP. In 1968 he took up a lectureship in the physiology department at Sydney University, during which time he made his second major discovery namely that neuronal growth cones are triggered to make synapses in excess, with these then pruned away during later development; still earlier development involves the pruning of the neurons themselves through cell death. Max Bennett received, in 1980, the largest personal Centre of Research Excellence Grant in the first round of such Centres funded by the Australian Government, and was made a Personal Chair at Sydney University after the first, Lord May. This research is described in three books. SEE BOOKS.
Neuropsychiatry
Bennett subsequently made his third major contribution, namely that the loss of grey matter in certain parts of the brain following stress and trauma, generally detected using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), is due to the loss of synapses. These discoveries led to his being awarded the first University Chair at Sydney for ‘research recognised internationally to be of exceptional distinction’ in 2000 as well as the senior award of the Australian Academy of Science, the Burnet Medal and by being made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO). Bennett then made his fourth major contribution to neuroscience, together with his colleague William Gibson, namely that the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal recorded in an area of the brain using functional-MRI (fMRI) reflects synaptic activity there. These last two discoveries reflect a shift in interests to what goes awry at synapses in particular parts of the brain following stress and trauma, which often lead to major depression (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), subjects on which he has written three books. SEE BOOKS.
Founding Mental Health Institutes
The shift in my interests from basic neuroscientific research on synapses to their function in neuropsychiatric disorders was accompanied by efforts to put the discoveries in this area into practice. This required my establishing multidisciplinary research institutes dedicated to the amelioration of major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental disorders in Australia. The first of these is what I called the ‘Brain and Mind Research Institute’ (now Centre) at Sydney University and as Founding Director appointed by the Vice Chancellor (Gavin Brown) in 2002, I obtained the funds and buildings that has allowed it to flourish for over 20 years. The second institute I founded, dedicated to multidisciplinary research and the amelioration of mental disorders, is on the south coast of Queensland (Maroochydore) at the Sunshine Coast University. Called the ‘Mind and Neuroscience Thompson Institute’ (now Thompson Institute). This would not have been possible without the very substantial philanthropic gifts of Roy and Nola Thompson. The third of these institutes was not initiated by me, but by Roy and Nola Thompson, called ‘Thompson Brain and Mind Healthcare’, although I chair the institute Board. They have provided so far about $50 million to the independent Board to enable establishment of a private enterprise that will immediately translate discoveries in Neuroscience and Neuropsychiatry into clinical care of patients with mental health disorders. SEE BOOKS.
Neurophilosophy
Bennett has, since founding the Athenian Society as an undergraduate at Melbourne University in the early 1960s, continued to pursue philosophical questions concerned with the relation between the brain and the mind (our psychological capacities). Bennett first wrote a book summarizing the opinions of Nobel Prize winning neuroscientists on the mind/brain subject. Next, following the recognition of members of the Athenian Society that the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein was revolutionary, Bennett approached the foremost authority on Wittgenstein, namely Peter Hacker at Oxford, to enter into a dialogue on questions concerning the Brain/Mind relation. The result of this dialogue is five books SEE BOOKS in which two principal fallacies have been identified. First, the claim that parts of the body, especially the brain, remembers and thinks, when manifestly it is we human beings that express such psychological capacities, not parts of us; this incorrect attribution had been identified by Aristotle and is known as the Mereological Fallacy. Second, the idea that a neuron in the brain can represent something, for example in perception a particular human’s face, is deeply flawed, for among other questions to whom is the neuron representing? We called this the Representational Fallacy, and argued that the term representation should be dropped in neuroscience.
History & Future of Universities
Bennett, when he turned 80 and still a full-time academic at Sydney university, was asked by the vice-chancellor to write a history on the greatest research and scholarship carried out at the university over its 170 years. Although this was divergent from his own major avenues of scholarship and research he took on the task as he felt beholden to the university that had given him unfettered support as an academic for over 50 years; furthermore he knew or had known most of the 20 whose work at the university would need to be canvassed. Bennett came to realize while completing this task that the culture which had nurtured the 20 was now in jeopardy. This led to an investigation into the causes of the malaise contemporary universities now find themselves in with respect to their core values and financial stability. The result is a two volume work on the search for knowledge, understanding and truth. SEE BOOKS.
Painting
For the last 25 years Bennett has painted for a few hours each week. His work is dominated by a love of Australian flora, particularly dying leaves which transition through a beautiful range of colours as the chlorophyll molecules decay into carotenoids and anthocyanins, unmasking yellow, orange, red and purple (mostly during autumn). This process of decay can be caught by even an amateur in water colour, providing a wonderful meditative contrast to neuroscience. Collections of these paintings are available in four books. VIEW WORK.