Jerzy Vetulani Quotes

Jerzy Adam Gracjan Vetulani was a Polish neuroscientist, pharmacologist and biochemist, professor of natural sciences, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Learning, one of the most frequently cited Polish scientists in the field of biomedicine after 1965.Professor, Head of the Department of Biochemistry , Deputy Director for Science Affairs and Vice Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Pharmacology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków, he published more than 200 original research papers. He first gained recognition for an early hypothesis of the mechanism of action of antidepressant drugs, suggesting in 1975, together with Fridolin Sulser, that downregulation of beta-adrenergic receptors is responsible for their effects. In 1983 he received Anna-Monika Prize for research on mechanisms of action of electroconvulsive therapy. Beside depression, his scientific interests included memory, addiction and neurodegeneration. Active also in the field of popularization of science, for more than twenty years he was the editor-in-chief of the magazine Wszechświat ; he was also known for his popular lectures, gathering large audiences on various occasions, and since 2010 he ran a blog and social media channels.

He participated in several artistic projects; in his twenties he was an announcer at Piwnica pod Baranami cabaret , and in his seventies became a regular participant of the anthropological talking magazine Gadający Pies . An activist of the democratic opposition in the Polish People's Republic, he was a member of the Solidarity trade union since 1980. He was a candidate for president of Kraków in 2002 elections.

An honorary fellow of Indian Academy of Neurosciences and Oxford Neurological Society, honorary doctor of the Medical University of Silesia and the Medical University of Łódź, he received several other awards and official distinctions, including Gold Cross of Merit and Knight's Cross of Polonia Restituta.

He actively argued for legalization of marijuana and depenalization of all drugs for adult users, often criticizing repressive drug policy in Poland.

✵ 21. January 1936 – 6. April 2017
Jerzy Vetulani photo
Jerzy Vetulani: 39   quotes 0   likes

Famous Jerzy Vetulani Quotes

“The worst thing happens when ideologists are trying to analyse scientific researches.”

Vetulani, Jerzy (2008): Neurobiologia inteligencji. Wiedza i Życie, 2, pp. 14–19 (in Polish).

“Creativity is an integral part of our personality.”

Vetulani, Jerzy (6 December 2009): W każdym z nas tkwi mr Hyde https://nto.pl/profesor-jerzy-vetulani-w-kazdym-z-nas-tkwi-mr-hyde/ar/4135849, interview. Nowa Trybuna Opolska (in Polish).

“"Designer drugs" are a word bag, just like "drugs", by the way. But after the word "drugs" is the word: "illegal". And after the "designer drugs" there is something much worse: lack of knowledge.”

Vetulani, Jerzy (18 October 2010): Nawet czarownice wiedziały, co sprzedają https://dziennikpolski24.pl/nawet-czarownice-wiedzialy-co-sprzedaja/ar/2867902, interview. Dziennik Polski (in Polish).

“I would like to live in a society in which we could go to a cafe and smoke a joint, just as nowadays we eat cake, which may have negative influence on our health as well.”

Borejza, Tomasz; Vetulani, Jerzy (3 December 2012): Gdybym miał plantację marihuany, interview. „Przekrój” (in Polish).

Jerzy Vetulani Quotes about time

“Emotions have evolved so that we can make decisions quickly and without thinking in situations where there is no time for reasoning.”

Woźniak, Olga; Vetulani, Jerzy (24 December 2011): Stań się dobrym. To się opłaca, interview. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish).

“Longevity in the sense of the maximum survival time of an individual has not changed much with the progress of civilization.”

Golinowska, Stanisława; Grodzicki, Tomasz; Tobiasz-Adamczyk, Renata (2013): Starość i starzenie się – trudne wyzwanie przyszłości. Alma Mater, 154, p. 19 (in Polish).

“Sexual intercourse consumes time, requires much effort, absorbs a huge part of energy. But it gives such dose of pleasure, that all of these defects don't matter.”

Vetulani, Jerzy (2008): Mózg, seks i nagrody. Charaktery, 1(5), pp. 41–43 (in Polish).

“Jurek had a feature rarely seen in an older adult – an unrestrained, almost childish curiosity of the world that fueled his activity in everyday life and did not allow him to age mentally. He liked to be on the move all the time, to go on trips, so as not to sit idle.”

Irena Nalepa, a psychopharmacologist and long-time collaborator of Jerzy Vetulani. Jerzy Vetulani (1936–2017). O mentorze, przyjacielu i niepokornym wirtuozie naukowej narracji http://kosmos.icm.edu.pl/PDF/2018/233.pdf (in Polish), Kosmos, 67 (2), s. 233–244, 2018.

“I met Jurek many years ago when he was only little older than his beloved grandson now. And he was just as nice and at the same time extremely handsome!”

Kika Szaszkiewiczowa, an artist and Kraków cabaret circles personality, in an entry on her blog http://www.szaszkiewiczowa.eu/sto-lat-sto-lat/.

“He was a man of contradictions: genius, loyal, virtuous. But also uncompromising and even brazen. Beloved and unbearable at the same time. A controversial scientist, and just a good man.”

Maria Mazurek, journalist and co-author of several popular science books with Vetulani. Odszedł profesor Jerzy Vetulani, wybitny naukowiec z Krakowa http://www.gazetakrakowska.pl/wiadomosci/krakow/a/odszedl-profesor-jerzy-vetulani-wybitny-naukowiec-z-krakowa,11966432/ (in Polish), Gazeta Krakowska, 8th April 2017.

Jerzy Vetulani Quotes

“Freud is completely unscientific. It's a cross between vision, poetry and deceit.”

Vetulani, Jerzy (11 May 2012): Neurobiologia i religia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn559bvUzRE, lecture. Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (in Polish).

“Life is an ulcer on the body of universe.”

Vetulani, Jerzy (2007): Starość okiem przyrodnika. Psychogeriatria polska, 4(3), pp. 109–138.

“Empathy and aggression – although seemingly very distant from each other – have a largely similar neurobiological background and are often intertwined. Besides, our entire legal system is based on the fact that excessive empathy activates centers of aggression.”

(7 April 2017): „Mama powiedziała mi: Obyś był dobry i szczęśliwy”. Co prof. Jerzy Vetulani mówił o swoim życiu, pasjach i nauce? http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,21608877,mama-powiedziala-mi-obys-byl-dobry-i-szczesliwy-co-prof.html. Wyborcza.pl (in Polish).

“It is very clear in Poland that the non-restrictive anti-smoking campaign has been a huge success, and it seems that conclusions should be drawn from it.”

Vetulai, Jerzy (20 February 2009): Wódka groźniejsza niż egzotyczne ziółka http://www.monar.net.pl/Article8247.html. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish).

“Great people that performed in "Piwnica pod Baranami" often hated each other.”

Vetulani, Jerzy: Mózg trzeba ćwiczyć w każdym wieku, interview. Malopolska.docelu.eu (in Polish).

“It's a great question about what is our mind. Undoubtedly a creation of our brain.”

Woźniak, Olga; Vetulani, Jerzy (24 December 2011): Stań się dobrym. To się opłaca, interview. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish).

“Cannabis, just like morphine, has its usage in medicine. It's unpardonable that authorities forbid sick people access to this medicament and in majesty of law permit to sell cigarettes.”

(2013): Znamy radę programową Polskiej Sieci Polityki Narkotykowej http://pulsmedycyny.pl/3413324,78023,znamy-rade-programowa-polskiej-sieci-polityki-narkotykowej. Puls Medycyny (in Polish).

“With all due respect for the title of professor. Vetulani, however, is a unique moron.”

Cezary Gmyz, right-wing journalist, in an entry from his Twitter account https://twitter.com/cezarygmyz/status/642096205737119744.

“Professor writes about the brain in a very approachable way, and from what he writes, the conviction that man is free is born. The message of his books influenced, among others, the emergence of several of my painting cycles. For me he is an authority, and I do not have many of them.”

Iwona Siwek-Front, painter, friend of Vetulani in an interview Artystka, to jak glebogryzarka http://www.bloge12.pl/artystka-to-jak-glebogryzarka/ (in Polish), Mazowiecki Instytut Kultury, 2014.

“I will remember him as a man who is honestly seeking the truth. And a bit more: there was also the courage to find and take risks to defend this truth.”

Grzegorz Strzelczyk, a Catholic priest who co-authored a book that was a conversation record between him and Vetulani, in an interview with Tygodnik Sanocki http://tygodniksanocki.pl/2017/10/08/czy-w-mozgu-mieszka-bog/ (in Polish).

“He was an extremely direct man, spontaneous in dealing with other people, he did not care about keeping distance between him as the boss and co-workers. At the very beginning he informed me that he was on first name terms with everyone, proposing the same to me as well. Of course, I willingly (and proudly) accepted this situation.”

Irena Nalepa, a psychopharmacologist and long-time collaborator of Jerzy Vetulani. Jerzy Vetulani (1936–2017). O mentorze, przyjacielu i niepokornym wirtuozie naukowej narracji http://kosmos.icm.edu.pl/PDF/2018/233.pdf (in Polish), Kosmos, 67 (2), s. 233–244, 2018.

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