vailsymposium

Dr. Christof Koch is a renowned neuroscientist best known for his pioneering studies and writings on the basis of consciousness, a journey he began with the molecular biologist Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the DNA structure.

Koch is an investigator at the Allen Institute and chief scientist at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He received his baccalaureate from the Lycée Descartes in Rabat, Morocco, his B.S. and M.S. in physics from the University of Tübingen in Germany, and his Ph.D. from the Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in 1982. After spending four years as a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, he joined the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1987 where he served as a professor until 2013. In 2011, Koch joined the Allen Institute for Brain Science as Chief Scientific Officer and became President in 2015.

Koch’s research focuses on neurons, their diverse shapes, electrical behaviors, and computational functions within the mammalian brain, particularly in the neocortex. In collaboration with Francis Crick, he initiated the modern search for the neuronal correlates of consciousness, a systematic experimental program to identify the minimal bio-physical mechanisms jointly sufficient for any one specific conscious percept. Koch’s writings integrate neuroscience with philosophy and artificial intelligence. His most recent book, “Then I Am Myself the World,” explores these themes in depth.