Marian Diamond
| Marian C. Diamond | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 11, 1926 Glendale, California |
| Residence | Oakland, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Neuroanatomy, Anatomy, Education |
| Institutions | University of California, Berkeley |
| Alma mater |
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| Thesis | Functional Interrelationships of the Hypothalamus and the Neurohypophysis (1953) |
| Notable awards | The Distinguished Senior Woman Scholar in America awarded by the American Association of University Women |
| Spouse |
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| Children |
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| Notes | |
Marian Cleeves Diamond (née Cleeves, born November 11, 1926) is a professor emerita of anatomy, Department of Integrative Biology, at the University of California, Berkeley who has published research into the neuroanatomy of the forebrain, notably discovery of the impact of the surrounding environment on brain development, differences between the cerebral cortex of male and female rats, and the link between positive thinking and immune health.
Marian Cleeves Diamond was born in Glendale, California to Dr. Montague Cleeves and Rosa Marian Wamphler Cleeves as the sixth and last child in the family. Her father was an English physician and her mother a Latin teacher at Berkeley High School. Diamond grew up in La Crescenta. She was educated with her siblings near home at La Crescenta grammar school, Clark Junior High, Glendale High School and finally Glendale Community College, before going to University of California, Berkeley. She played tennis at Berkeley, earning a letter.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1948, Diamond spent a summer at the University of Oslo, Norway before returning to Berkeley for her graduate studies, the first female graduate student in the department of anatomy. Her doctoral dissertation thesis "Functional Interrelationships of the Hypothalamus and the Neurohypophysis" was published in 1953. During her PhD degree Marian Diamond also began to teach, and teaching became a lifelong passion that continued well into her eighties. Marian Diamond received her PhD degree in human anatomy. After working as a research assistant (Harvard University, 1952-1953) Diamond became the first woman science instructor at Cornell University (1955-1958) where she taught human biology and comparative anatomy. Diamond returned to the University of California, Berkeley in 1960 in the role of lecturer. She joined an ongoing research project with psychologists David Krech, Mark Rosenzweig, and chemist Edward Bennett, as the neuroanatomist. By 1964 Diamond had the data, the first actual evidence in anatomical measurements "showing the plasticity of the anatomy of the mammalian cerebral cortex." These stunning results put brain plasticity on the map and as Diamond wrote in 2009 "opened the doors for our experiments to follow for the next 37 years." The University of California, Berkeley invited Diamond to be an Assistant Professor in 1965; later welcomed her as a full Professor and currently Professor Emeritus. 1984 brought a new and difficult, although desired, challenge to the Diamond lab. Diamond and her associates had the "privilege of access to sufficient tissue from Einstein's brain" to make the first ever analysis of his preserved brain, followed by publication of their research. The 1985 publication of "On the Brain of a Scientist: Albert Einstein" created some controversy in academia over the role of glial cells. However, it also ushered in an exciting new era of interest in neuroglia.
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