Humans have sought to unlock the secrets of the brain for thousands of years. In just the last couple of decades, more remarkable discoveries have been made than ever before, not only in understanding how the mind works, but also why it sometimes doesn't.

The Pfizer Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series was held Sept-Nov., 2001, under the auspicies of the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program. It featured outstanding scientists on the cutting edge of brain research:

• Ronald Kessler, professor of health care policy, Harvard University Medical School
  
  
• Stephen A. Petrill, assistant professor of biobehavioral health, Pennsylvania State University
  
  
• Torsten Wiesel, president emeritus and professor emeritus of neurobiology, Rockefeller University, New York, and co-winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize for medicine
  
  
• Rudolfo Llinas, professor of physiology and neuroscience, New York University School of Medicine, and chief editor, Neuroscience
  
  
• David Snowdon, director of the Nun Study and author of Aging with Grace
  
  
• Steven J. Schiff, Krasnow professor of neurobiology and professor of psychology at the George Mason University