Patricia Goldman-Rakic, 2003 © Levitt P, Maria Goldman-Rakic, CC BY 3.0

Neuroscientist Patricia Goldman-Rakic, née Shoer, was born in Massachusetts in 1937 to a Jewish immigrant family. In 1959 she earned a bachelor’s degree in neurobiology from Vassar College and in 1963 a doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. After years of research at the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, where she was head of the division of developmental neurobiology from 1965, she joined the Yale School of Medicine in 1979. That same year she married the scientist Pasko Rakic. 

Illustration adapted by Selemon and Goldman-Rakic (1988), showing two highly interconnected cortical regions (dlPFC, PPC) with similar connections to widespread areas of the cortex © https://www.researchgate.net/publication/377790218_Patricia_Goldman-Ra-kic_a_pioneer_and_leader_in_frontal_lobe_research/figures?lo=1 | CC BY 4.0

She developed the first bio-logical map of the frontal lobe of the brain, which had previously been considered inaccessible. Her explorations of its structure revealed that cells in the prefrontal cortex are dedicated to specific memory tasks, leading her to develop the theory of working memory. Her in-depth research of this subject with little prior knowledge has been crucial in the understanding of schizophrenia, ADHD, Parkinson’s disease and dementia. She received numerous awards for her pioneering work in neuroscience. Patricia Goldman-Rakic died as the result of a road accident in 2003.