Colin was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK in 1944. He won a state scholarship to Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge, where he studied Medical Sciences and Experimental Psychology. Colin was then drawn to neuroscience and undertook a PhD at the University of California, Berkley, where he performed pioneering experimental studies with Horace Barlow and other neuroscience luminaries, resulting in a thesis on Binocular Interaction in Animals and Man. In 1968 he was recruited back to the University of Cambridge, where he was first Demonstrator and then Lecturer in Physiology, and subsequently became Director of Medical Studies at Downing College. He was appointed as the Waynflete Professor of Physiology at University of Oxford, in 1979, at the unprecedented tender age of 35 years. In Berkley, Cambridge and Oxford, Colin made many major contributions to our understanding of the organization and development of the visual system1. He was also amongst the first to propose that the environment shapes the developing and adult brain2. He identified factors that mediate neural plasticity at the molecular, cellular and systems levels1. His work defined the periods during which manipulation of sensory input has a lasting effect on sensory perception, thereby defining critical periods for therapeutic interventions. Colin’s research on amblyopia eventually led to clinical trials and he continued to work on clinical publications until his death3. Many of his seminal research articles have become ‘citation classics’4, indicating their lasting impact. His major scientific legacies include not only his own extraordinary publication record, but also the many postdocs and graduate students from around the world trained by him, many of whom have continued Colin’s impressive legacy in neuroscience and broader fields of scientific endeavour. He also taught generations of medical and biomedical students, all of whom remember him fondly. The Large Lecture Theatre at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at Oxford was named the Blakemore Lecture Theatre in his honour in August 2021.
Colin’s influence and achievements extended beyond neuroscience research. He was Director of the James S. McDonnell and Medical Research Council Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. He served as President of the Biosciences Federation (now known as the Society of Biology), the British Neuroscience Association and the Physiological Society, and as President and Chairman of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (now known as the British Science Association). Colin was also Chief Executive of the British Medical Research Council (MRC). His research was recognized by several societies; Colin was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, Academia Europaea and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal Society of Medicine, the Institute of Biology, the British Pharmacological Society, the Society of Biology, and Corpus Christi College and Downing College, University of Cambridge. He was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to scientific research, policy and outreach.
