Neurobiology: Mind Reader

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Despite Goldman-Rakic's best efforts, there is still probably as much we don't know about the frontal lobe as we do. But she has helped open the door wider for other scientists to explore, and given hope and new ideas to researchers studying various conditions--from drug abuse to Parkinson's--that affect memory. Psychologists in particular respect Goldman-Rakic for the way she is constantly trying to bring psychology and biology closer together--thinking about the mind as a whole even while she is looking through a microscope.

"She has a unique combination of technical rigor and creative intelligence," says Stephen Kosslyn, a professor of psychology at Harvard University.

At 64, Goldman-Rakic is as driven as a junior researcher just out of grad school. Her next goal? "A theory of [the entire cerebral] cortical functional architecture down to the level of individual neurons and functional circuits would be very nice," she says. Nice, indeed.