Louis B. Flexner

Who was Louis B. Flexner?

Louis Barkhouse Flexner was an American biochemist, a researcher into the biochemistry of memory. Flexner proved, among other things, that the brain synthesized proteins at a much faster rate than had been held widele before him. He also established a link between protein synthesis and the brain's functions of learning and memory. Flexner was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the founding director of the Institute of Neurological Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, chair of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Philosophical Society. The National Academies Press called him "a major scientific figure".