Dr.
José Manuel Rodriguez Delgado
(bornAugust 8,1915) was a Spanish
professor of physiology atYale University, famed for his research into electricalstimulation of regions in the brain.Delgado was born inRonda,Spainin 1915. He received aDoctor of Medicinedegree
from theUniversity of Madridjust before the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, in
which he served as a medical corpsman on the Republican side. After the war he hadto repeat his M.D. degree, and then took a Ph.D. at theCajal InstituteinMadrid.
In 1946 he began a fellowship at Yale, and was invited by the noted physiologistJohn Fultonto join the department of physiology in 1950.Delgado's research interests centered on the use of electrical signals to evokeresponses in the brain. His earliest work was with cats, but later did experimentswith monkeys and humans, including mental patients.Much of Delgado's work was with an invention he called a
stimoceiver
, a radio which joined a stimulator of brain waves with a receiver which monitoredE.E.G.waves andsent them back on separate radio channels. This allowed the subject of theexperiment full freedom of movement while allowing the experimenter to control theexperiment.The stimoceiver could be used to stimulate emotions and control behavior. Accordingto Delgado, "Radio Stimulation of different points in the amygdala and hippocampusin the four patients produced a variety of effects, including pleasant sensations,elation, deep, thoughtful concentration, odd feelings, super relaxation, coloredvisions, and other responses." Delgado stated that "brain transmitters can remain ina person's head for life. The energy to activate the brain transmitter is transmittedby way of radio frequencies." (Source: Cannon; Delgado, J.M.R., "Intracerebral RadioStimulation and recording in Completely Free Patients," in Schwitzgebel andSchwitzgebel (eds.))The most famous example of the stimoceiver in action occurred at aCordobabullbreeding ranch. Delgado stepped into the ring with a bull which had had astimoceiver implanted. The bull charged Delgado, who pressed a remote controlbutton which caused the bull to stop its charge. Delgado claimed that the stimuluscaused the bull to lose its aggressive instinct.Although the bull incident was widely mentioned in the popular media, Delgadobelieved that his experiment with a female chimpanzee named Paddy was moresignificant. Paddy was fitted with a stimoceiver linked to a computer that detectedthe brain signal called a spindle. When the spindle was recognized, the stimoceiversent a signal to the central gray area of Paddy's brain, producing an 'aversivereaction'. Within hours her brain was producing fewer spindles.In 1974, Delgado returned to Spain to help organize a new medical school at theAutonomous University of Madrid.
Dr. Jose M. R. Delgado
Under the auspices of the fascist regime in Spain during WWII, Jose Delgado beganhis research into the use of pain and pleasure for mind control. Later, as Director of Neuropsychiatry at Yale University Medical School, he refined the design of his
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