Larry Ryan Squire is a preeminent scholar and transformative figure in the neuroscience of memory, recognized globally for his pioneering contributions to understanding the brain's memory systems. He holds the distinguished position of Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Neurosciences, and Psychology at the University of California, San Diego, and serves as Senior Research Career Scientist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego. After completing his undergraduate studies in Psychology at Oberlin College and earning his Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he conducted postdoctoral research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine before joining UCSD in 1970. His enduring commitment to academic excellence has spanned more than five decades at this institution, establishing him as one of the most influential neuroscientists of his generation.
Dr. Squire's groundbreaking research has fundamentally reshaped our comprehension of the neurological foundations of human memory through meticulous investigations of neurological patients and animal models. His seminal work illuminated the anatomy and phenotype of human memory impairment, identified the anatomical components of the medial temporal lobe memory system alongside Stuart Zola, and pioneered the critical biological distinction between declarative and nondeclarative memory systems. His influential contributions established the standard account of memory consolidation and explored the intricate organization of conscious and unconscious memory systems in the mammalian brain. With over 480 research articles and authoritative publications including the seminal texts Memory and Brain and Memory: From Mind to Molecules coauthored with Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, his research has received extensive citation and remains foundational to contemporary memory neuroscience.
Beyond his own research achievements, Squire has profoundly shaped the field through his editorial leadership as senior editor of the definitive textbook Fundamental Neuroscience and as editor-in-chief of The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography across eight volumes. His presidency of the Society for Neuroscience from 1993 to 1994 and his election to the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, and National Academy of Medicine underscore his extraordinary impact on the scientific community. He has mentored numerous researchers who have gone on to lead their own laboratories and continues to influence the field through his emeritus position, with recent publications advancing our understanding of episodic memory coding and topographical memory in the human hippocampus, ensuring his legacy as a guiding force whose insights continue to inform both theoretical frameworks and clinical approaches to memory disorders.
