Terrence Sejnowski
Also known as Terrence J. Sejnowski
Terrence Sejnowski is a computational neuroscientist whose neural-network work helped lay foundations for brain-inspired AI. He studied physics at Case Western and Princeton, shifted toward computational neurobiology, and joined Salk in 1988. With Geoffrey Hinton, he invented the Boltzmann machine; with Charles Rosenberg, he created NETtalk, which learned to turn written English into speech. He received the IEEE Neural Network Pioneer Award in 2002 and the IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award in 2013, shared the 2024 Brain Prize with Larry Abbott and Haim Sompolinsky, and received an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award in 2025. As of October 2026, he heads Salk’s Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, holds the Francis Crick Chair, and is a distinguished professor at UC San Diego; he is principal investigator of the NIH project Temporal Context in Brains and Transformers through 2030.
- Works
- 990
- Citations
- 124,931
- h-index
- 151
Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 15 October 2026.
Timeline
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1968–1979
From physics to neurobiology
He earns a physics bachelor’s degree at Case Western Reserve University in 1968, studies physics at Princeton, and shifts toward computational and theoretical neurobiology by 1979.
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1981–1988
Neural networks at Johns Hopkins
After postdoctoral work at Princeton and Harvard, he joins the Johns Hopkins faculty in biophysics in 1981. In 1985, he and Geoffrey Hinton invent the Boltzmann machine, an algorithm for learning in multilayered neural networks; in the mid-1980s, he and Charles Rosenberg create NETtalk, which learns to turn English text into speech. He moves to California in 1988 for joint appointments at Salk and UC San Diego, where he directs the Crick-Jacobs Center for Computational Neurobiology.
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2002
The Neural Network Pioneer Award
He receives the Neural Network Pioneer Award from the IEEE in 2002.
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2013
IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award
IEEE gives him the Frank Rosenblatt Award in 2013.
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2024
The Brain Prize
He shares the Brain Prize in 2024 with Larry Abbott and Haim Sompolinsky for work in computational and theoretical neuroscience. Their contributions help pave the way for brain-inspired AI.
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2025
An NIH Director’s Pioneer Award
The NIH selects him for a Director’s Pioneer Award in 2025 to support computational modeling of working-memory circuit dynamics.
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As of October 2026
Professor and laboratory head
As of October 2026, he is a professor and head of Salk’s Computational Neurobiology Laboratory and holds the Francis Crick Chair. At UC San Diego, he is a distinguished professor and principal investigator of the NIH project Temporal Context in Brains and Transformers, which runs from 2025 to 2030.
Sources and credits
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- CWRU to recognize honorary degree recipients May 13 | CWRU Newsroom | Case Western Reserve University
- Terrence Sejnowski | Gruber Foundation
- Salk Professor Terrence Sejnowski wins Brain Prize
- NETtalk (artificial neural network)
- Salk scientist Terrence Sejnowski elected to National Academy of Sciences
- Terrence Sejnowski, PhD – Salk Institute
- Salk professor Terrence Sejnowski receives IEEE Frank Rosenblatt Award
- Salk scientist Terrence Sejnowski receives 2025 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award
- Terrence Sejnowski | UCSD Profiles