The character arc of Richard Davidson

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 12 December 1951 into a Jewish family in Brooklyn. Between then and now sit summers between 1968 and 1971 spent cleaning electrodes in a sleep laboratory at a nearby medical centre, a psychology degree in 1972, a doctorate at Harvard in 1976 in personality, psychopathology and psychophysiology, mentoring by some of the most formidable names in the field, a first teaching post the same year, research consultancies at a children's hospital and a national institute, a move to Wisconsin in 1984, and a centre of his own. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Richard Davidson?

He cleaned the electrodes first. Later he chose who wore them.

He was born into a Jewish family in Brooklyn and went to the local high school. Between 1968 and 1971, in the summers, he worked as a research assistant in the sleep laboratory at a nearby medical centre, which in practice meant cleaning the electrodes that had been stuck to people overnight. That is how a career in measuring what brains do actually begins: at the bottom, with a cloth.

He took his psychology degree at New York University in 1972 and went to Harvard, where he worked with Daniel Goleman and Gary Schwartz and gained a doctorate in 1976 in personality, psychopathology and psychophysiology, three subjects that did not usually travel together. He was mentored by David McClelland and influenced by two of the most serious neurologists of the era.

He took a teaching post at a New York state university in 1976, and held research consultancies at a hospital infant laboratory and at a national institute's neuroscience laboratory. In 1984 he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and has been there ever since, directing first a laboratory for affective neuroscience and then a brain imaging centre.

What he is known for is founding and chairing the Center for Healthy Minds, and the affiliated non-profit that carries its work out into the world. The centre's work put long term meditators, including monks with tens of thousands of hours of practice, into scanners, and asked what a trained mind actually looks like. It was not a fashionable question when he started asking it. It is now a field.

The moments

Richard Davidson's timeline.

The 1960s

Jun 1968

Cleaning the electrodes

Milestone, and it changed everything. Sixteen years old, in a sleep laboratory, wiping the equipment.

The 1970s

Jun 1972

Psychology at NYU

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The degree, and then straight on to Harvard.

Jun 1976

Three subjects at once

Milestone, and it changed everything. A doctorate in three fields that did not usually travel together.

Sep 1976

A first teaching post

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Twenty four years old, and at the front of the room.

~1979

Consultancies and infants

Everyday. Babies at one end of life and ageing at the other.

The 1980s

Sep 1984

Wisconsin

Milestone, and it changed everything. One university, from 1984 to now.

The 1990s

~1990

A laboratory for feeling

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two laboratories, both asking what emotion does to a brain.

The 2000s

1 Jun 2003

A respectable subject, or this one

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: scan the meditators, taken, or stay with the mainstream. He founded and chairs a research centre built on exactly that question.

~2004

Monks in the scanner

Milestone, and it changed everything. He put people with tens of thousands of hours of practice into a scanner.

The 2010s

~2010

The Center for Healthy Minds

Milestone, and it changed everything. A centre of his own, and a non-profit to get the findings out.

~2018

Out of the laboratory

Milestone, and it changed his direction. The findings, deliberately pushed out past the campus gates.

The centre at Madison is still running and still scanning. What he set moving is a whole branch of science that did not exist when he started, built by a Brooklyn boy who spent three summers wiping the equipment down before anybody let him near the question.

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Richard Davidson: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Richard Davidson's character arc?

A Brooklyn schoolboy who spent three summers cleaning electrodes in a sleep laboratory, took a Harvard doctorate in three fields at twenty four, joined Wisconsin in 1984, and built a research centre around brain imaging of long term meditators.

What did Richard Davidson study?

Psychology at New York University, graduating in 1972, and then a doctorate at Harvard in 1976 in personality, psychopathology and psychophysiology, working with Daniel Goleman and Gary Schwartz and mentored by David McClelland.

What is Richard Davidson's Center for Healthy Minds?

A research centre at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that he founded and chairs, with an affiliated non-profit, Healthy Minds Innovations, which exists to carry its research into practical use beyond the university.

Did Richard Davidson study meditators?

Yes. His work has involved brain imaging studies of long term meditators, including people with very large numbers of practice hours behind them. It was not a fashionable question when he began asking it, and it is now a field.

What was Richard Davidson's first job in science?

Cleaning electrodes. Between 1968 and 1971, while at high school in Brooklyn, he worked summers as a research assistant in the sleep laboratory at a nearby medical centre, cleaning the electrodes that had been attached to subjects for sleep studies.

Where does Richard Davidson work?

The University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is professor of psychology and psychiatry and has been on the faculty since 1984. He previously directed laboratories there in affective neuroscience and brain imaging.

Where does this timeline of Richard Davidson's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Richard Davidson isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Richard Davidson, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Harvard records for his 1976 doctorate and University of Wisconsin-Madison records for his post from 1984.
Center for Healthy Minds records for the centre and its affiliated non-profit.