Prof. Friedemann Pulvermüller of the Freie Universität Berlin unexpectedly passed away a few weeks ago. Friedemann was a towering figure in the neurobiology of language and a much respected and appreciated collaborator of our Institute.
Friedemann’s research embodied the true spirit of our Institute, by seamlessly merging the fields of linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience to advance a model of words and meaning in the brain. His successive proposals expanded the notion of Hebbian cell assemblies to language, thereby offering biologically inspired, mechanistic accounts for complex linguistic and psycholinguistic phenomena. His work inspired a wide range of research, including spatiotemporal models of language processing, embodied and grounded theories of meaning and cognition, computational and deep learning language models, and even language therapies and rehabilitation after brain injury.
As many of us experienced, Friedemann was a kind person with a keen sense for irony and, above all, a truly brilliant mind. While we will miss Friedemann, his work, vision, and interdisciplinary approach will continue to inspire the field, not in the least at ILCB. Our thoughts are with his wife Bettina and his son Johannes.
(Photo K.S)