Susumu Tonegawa, the Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at MIT and a Nobel laureate, died July 11 at the age of 86. Tonegawa was a renowned molecular biologist who wielded his keen insight in a variety of fields, including immunology and neuroscience. In the early 1980s, Tonegawa discovered how the immune system generates its incredible diversity of antibodies — a breakthrough that earned him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1987. Following that landmark achievement, he turned his attention to neuroscience, where his work has helped to reveal how the brain stores memories as traces called “engrams.” An MIT faculty member for more than 40 years, Tonegawa also served as the founding director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and director of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute of Japan, and was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inves…

Can I really develop my career by venturing into the field I am not familiar with? That never occurred to me. I just followed my curiosity and instinct,” Tonegawa said in an interview published in the summer 2022 Picower Institute newsletter. In 1994, he was chosen as the founding director for MIT’s Center for Learning and Memory, which became the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory in 2002. Tonegawa continued to serve as the center’s director until the end of 2006. Professor Li-Huei Tsai, who succeeded Tonegawa as the Picower Institute’s director, calls working alongside Tonegawa “one of the greatest honors of my career.” “His passion…