Pioneers in Neuroendocrinology

In the middle and late 1960s, when it was clear that neuroendocrinology was established as a discipline in its own right, it occurred to us that auto biographical accounts of the pioneer work in this field by the major par ticipants would provide a highly interesting and informative account of his tory in the making. With the death of G. W. Harris in late 1971, and the loss thereby of an outstanding pioneer and personality in neuroendocri nology, it appeared to us to be even more urgent to undertake such a ven ture and collect as many stories as possible. The three of us agreed that initially we would limit our invitations to the senior investigators whose re search careers lay mostly behind them, with the hope that if this venture proved successful, we could ask younger and still very active researchers in neuroendocrinology to contribute to a subsequent volume. Most of those invited to write for this book agreed to do so, but regrettably there remain some notable absentees. The authors were requested to write a personal, and even idiosyncratic, account of the steps taken, and the motivation and drive that led them to develop their interest in the relationship between the brain and the endocrine system.