Giacomo Rizzolatti

{{short description|Italian neurophysiologist (born 1937)}}

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Giacomo Rizzolatti

|image = Giacomo Rizzolatti.jpg

|image_size = 200px

|caption =

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1937|4|28|df=y}}

|birth_place = Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

|death_date =

|death_place =

|nationality = Italian

|fields = Neurophysiology

|workplaces = University of Parma

|alma_mater = University of Padua

|doctoral_advisor =

|academic_advisors = Giuseppe Moruzzi

|doctoral_students =

|notable_students =

|known_for = Mirror neurons

|influences =

|influenced =

|awards = Golgi Prize for Physiology
George Miller Award
Feltrinelli Prize for Medicine (2000)
Herlitzka Prize for Physiology
Brain Prize for Neurosciences

|religion =

|signature =

|footnotes =

}}

Giacomo Rizzolatti (born 28 April 1937{{Cite web |url=http://old.unipr.it/arpa/mirror/english/staff/rizzolat.htm |title=Professor Giacomo Rizzolatti, Universita Degli Studi Di Parma Department of Neuroscience |access-date=2016-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627193551/http://old.unipr.it/arpa/mirror/english/staff/rizzolat.htm |archive-date=2018-06-27 |url-status=dead }}) is an Italian neurophysiologist who works at the University of Parma. Born in Kyiv, UkSSR, he is the Senior Scientist of the research team that discovered mirror neurons in the frontal and parietal cortex of the macaque monkey, and has written many scientific articles on the topic. He also proposed the premotor theory of attention.{{Cite journal|last1=Rizzolatti|first1=Giacomo|last2=Riggio|first2=Lucia|last3=Dascola|first3=Isabella|last4=Umiltá|first4=Carlo|date=1987-01-01|title=Reorienting attention across the horizontal and vertical meridians: Evidence in favor of a premotor theory of attention|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0028-3932%2887%2990041-8|journal=Neuropsychologia|language=en|volume=25|issue=1, Part 1|pages=31–40|doi=10.1016/0028-3932(87)90041-8|pmid=3574648 |s2cid=16353514 |issn=0028-3932}} He is a past president of the European Brain and Behaviour Society. Rizzolatti was the 2007 co-recipient, with Leonardo Fogassi and Vittorio Gallese, for the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology.{{cite web|url=http://grawemeyer.org/psychology/previous-winners/2007-giacomo-rizzolatti-vittorio-gallese-and-leonardo-fogassi.html |title=2007 - Giacomo Rizzolatti, Vittorio Gallese and Leonardo Fogassi. The old saying "monkey see, monkey do" also applies to human behavior, say a trio of Italian scientists who earned the 2007 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology|date=November 29, 2006|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107222524/http://grawemeyer.org/psychology/previous-winners/2007-giacomo-rizzolatti-vittorio-gallese-and-leonardo-fogassi.html |archive-date=2012-11-07 }} He is an elected member of the Academia Europaea,{{Cite web|url=https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Rizzolatti_Giacomo|title=Academy of Europe: Rizzolatti Giacomo|website=www.ae-info.org}} National Academy of Sciences,{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20027340.html|title=Giacomo Rizzolatti|website=www.nasonline.org}} and Royal Society