Christof Koch

Born in the American Midwest, Christof Koch grew up in Holland, Germany, Canada, and Morocco. He studied physics and philosophy at the University of Tübingen in Germany and was awarded his Ph.D. in biophysics. Following four years at MIT, Christof joined the California Institute of Technology as a professor in biology and engineering. After a quarter of a century, Christof left academia for the non-for-profit Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle where he is now president and chief scientific officer, leading a large-scale, high throughput effort to to map, analyze and understand the mouse and human cerebral cortex.

Koch has authored more than 300 scientific papers and articles, eight patents and five books concerned with the way computers and neurons process information and the neuronal and computational basis of visual recognition and perception and attention. Together with his long-time collaborator, Francis Crick, he pioneered the scientific study of consciousness. His latest book is Consciousness – Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist. Koch’s research interests include elucidating the biophysical mechanisms underlying neural computation, understanding the mechanisms and purpose of visual attention, and uncovering the neural basis of consciousness and the subjective mind. He lives in Seattle and loves dogs, climbing, and biking.