I began my years at MIT’s Francis Bitter Magnet Lab, at about the beginning of 1969, as a Group Leader of the Low-Field Group, and maintained that status until my official retirement at July 1993. After that, although I still had an office and account, my appointment necessarily changed to “Visiting Scientist”, still in effect today in 2016. The shielded room was dismantled in 1996.
Let me explain further, about the MIT system of ranking. In a sense, MIT has two parts: teaching (faculty), and research. I think they are quite separate. It is a two-tiered system. The research section is the larger and is externally funded, and research people seldom cross over into teaching, at least many years ago. Almost all professionals at the Magnet Lab were in the research section, and never crossed over. We were not faculty.
So this is the way it worked: Our Low-Field Group was really a world unto itself. We were externally funded, and essentially had no bosses. The admin at the Magnet Lab seldom interfered with our group activities, but gave us complete and positive support, as long as our funds came in (easy in those days). It was ideal, in many ways. During a period of about 28 years I had a small permanent staff, some grad students, and a great many visiting scientists, from various countries. I think we largely laid the foundation of the field called Biomagnetism in general, and Magnetoencephalography in particular. The Magnet Lab was a marvelous place!
Here is a list of resident member in my Low-Field Group: the months and years are only a guess. Not included are many external colloborators, such as Joe Brain and Chris Wood.
| 1970 | Ed Givler | EE, permanent staff, ~ 4 yrs | ||||
| Christine Poor | Secretary, permanent staff, ~8 yrs | |||||
| Larry Kaufman | Post-doc physicist, ~2 yrs | |||||
| Paul Lawson | EE, permanent staff, ~2 yrs | |||||
| 1975 | Neil Cuffin ***** | PhD, modeling, permanent staff, 21 yrs | ||||
| Ephraim Frei | Physics Professor, Israel, ~6 months | |||||
| Hidy Hosaka | PhD candidate, Japan, ~1.5 yrs | |||||
| Juang Lee | EE, permanent staff, ~4yrs | |||||
| Makoto Kotani | EE Professor, Japan, ~1.5 yrs | |||||
| Stephen Schmid | MIT undergrad, ~4 mos | |||||
| Satoaki Arai | EE Professor, Japan, ~1.5 yrs | |||||
| 1980 | Alan Jost | PhD candidate, Canada, ~3 months | ||||
| Tom Crowther | Biophysics, permanent staff, ~4yrs | |||||
| Debbie Burstein | MIT grad student, ~2 yrs | |||||
| Pierre Savard | Post-doc, Canada, ~3 yrs | |||||
| Bill Kuhlman | Post-doc, from Yale U., ~4 months | |||||
| Iku Nemoto | Physics Professor, Japan, ~1 yr | |||||
| Jennifer Melcher | MIT grad student, ~2 yrs | |||||
| Vic Yarita | EEG engineer, Japan ~1 yr | |||||
| 1985 | Jerry Kennedy | Neurosurgeon, MA, ~2 yrs | ||||
| Chris Purcell | Post-doc, Canada, ~3 yrs | |||||
| Roman Maniewski | Post-doc, Poland, ~2 yrs | |||||
| Kazu Yunokuchi | EE Professor, Japan, ~2.5 yrs | |||||
| 1990 | George Adelman | Editor of Encyc. Neuroscience, 4 yrs | ||||
| Izrael Gorian | EE pattern recogn., Russian immig., 1 yr |
Note that I flagged Neil Cuffin. He was super-special, in that he was with me for 21 years. He passed on recently, and I here honor his memory.
B. NEIL CUFFIN
1941-2015
Neil received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering at Penn State University in 1975, where his thesis advisor was Prof. David Geselowitz, and the research subject was modeling the electric and magnetic field of the human heart. He then joined my group as a post-doc. Eventually he got most of his own funding for modeling work, but stayed in the group for 21 years until it was phased out in 1996, then moved to the Epilepsy EEG Group at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, directed by Prof. D. Schomer. After 7 years, he retired to Florida in 2003.
During those 21 years at MIT, our group did many of the early magnetic measurements of various organs of the human body, and Neil was right there with us, doing most of the data-handling and theoretical modeling. He published extensively on the forward and inverse problems, often in collaboration with me, and was certainly an international expert in those areas. On a personal level, he was a rather quiet and private bachelor, serious and very decent and honest. He was especially fond of the Japanese pre and postdocs in our lab, and visited them socially in Japan.
He thinking was quick, and most accurate. For example, in about 1983 I began to think about the feasibility of TMS, and submitted a paper to the 1984 Biomag Conference in Vancouver. Neil had not been interested in the subject, so I did it alone. Months later, just before the conference, I showed him my paper; it had a prominent drawing, showing the induced currents in the head. Flowing both Radially and tangentially. He glanced at it, and scoffed: “You, of all people, should know that you cannot induce radial currents in a sphere!” I was shocked --- of course he was right, but working alone, it slipped by my stupid brain…. A gross error, and published in those proceedings for the world to see! But Neil had spotted the mistake instantly. He was that good and accurate…
But he will be widely remembered for his main legacy, pioneering work in the biomagnetic forward and inverse problems.
His Publications (refereed): (Note some duplication with my publications, because of co-authorship; those in color can be expanded)
Teyler, T. J., Cuffin, B. N. & Cohen, D. VISUAL EVOKED MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAM. Life Sciences 17, 683-692, doi:10.1016/0024-3205(75)90522-6 (1975).
Hosaka, H., Cohen, D., Cuffin, B. N. & Horacek, B. M. EFFECT OF TORSO BOUNDARIES ON MAGNETOCARDIOGRAM. Journal of Electrocardiology 9, 418-425, doi:10.1016/s0022-0736(76)80042-8 (1976).
Hughes, J. R. et al. RELATIONSHIP OF MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAM TO ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM - NORMAL WAKE AND SLEEP ACTIVITY. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 40, 261-278, doi:10.1016/0013-4694(76)90150-4 (1976).
Cuffin, B. N. & Cohen, D. MAGNETIC-FIELDS PRODUCED BY MODELS OF BIOLOGICAL CURRENT SOURCES. Journal of Applied Physics 48, 3971-3980, doi:10.1063/1.324230 (1977).
Cuffin, B. N. & Geselowitz, D. B. COMPUTER-MODEL STUDIES OF MAGNETOCARDIOGRAM. Annals of Biomedical Engineering 5, 164-178, doi:10.1007/bf02364017 (1977).
Cuffin, B. N. & Geselowitz, D. B. STUDIES OF ECG USING REALISTIC CARDIAC AND TORSO MODELS. Ieee Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 24, 242-252, doi:10.1109/tbme.1977.326209 (1977).
Cuffin, B. N. USE OF ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC DATA TO DETERMINE ELECTRIC SOURCES IN A VOLUME CONDUCTOR. Annals of Biomedical Engineering 6, 173-193, doi:10.1007/bf02409342 (1978).
Cohen, D., Palti, Y., Cuffin, B. N. & Schmid, S. J. MAGNETIC-FIELDS PRODUCED BY STEADY CURRENTS IN THE BODY. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America-Biological Sciences 77, 1447-1451, doi:10.1073/pnas.77.3.1447 (1980).
Cuffin, B. N. EFFECTS OF MODELING ERRORS ON LEAST-SQUARES ERROR SOLUTIONS TO THE INVERSE PROBLEM OF ELECTROCARDIOLOGY. Annals of Biomedical Engineering 9, 369-382, doi:10.1007/bf02364657 (1981).
Cuffin, B. N. THE EFFECTS OF TORSO GEOMETRY ON MAGNETOCARDIOGRAPHIC LEAD FIELDS. Ieee Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 28, 742-749, doi:10.1109/tbme.1981.324854 (1981).
Cuffin, B. N. EFFECTS OF INHOMOGENEOUS REGIONS ON ELECTRIC POTENTIALS AND MAGNETIC-FIELDS - 2 SPECIAL CASES. Journal of Applied Physics 53, 9192-9197, doi:10.1063/1.330386 (1982).
Cuffin, B. N. & Cohen, D. EFFECTS OF DETECTOR COIL SIZE AND CONFIGURATION ON MEASUREMENTS OF THE MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAM. Journal of Applied Physics 54, 3589-3594, doi:10.1063/1.332428 (1983).
Savard, P., Cohen, D., Lepeschkin, E., Cuffin, B. N. & Madias, J. E. MAGNETIC MEASUREMENT OF S-T AND T-Q SEGMENT SHIFTS IN HUMANS .1. EARLY REPOLARIZATION AND LEFT-BUNDLE BRANCH-BLOCK. Circulation Research 53, 264-273 (1983).
Cuffin, B. N. A COMPARISON OF MOVING DIPOLE INVERSE SOLUTIONS USING EEGS AND MEGS. Ieee Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 32, 905-910, doi:10.1109/tbme.1985.325622 (1985).
Cuffin, B. N. EFFECTS OF FISSURES IN THE BRAIN ON ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAMS AND MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAMS. Journal of Applied Physics 57, 146-153, doi:10.1063/1.335378 (1985).
Wood, C. C., Cohen, D., Cuffin, B. N., Yarita, M. & Allison, T. ELECTRICAL SOURCES IN HUMAN SOMATOSENSORY CORTEX - IDENTIFICATION BY COMBINED MAGNETIC AND POTENTIAL RECORDINGS. Science 227, 1051-1053, doi:10.1126/science.3975600 (1985).
Cuffin, B. N. EFFECTS OF MEASUREMENT ERRORS AND NOISE ON MEG MOVING DIPOLE INVERSE SOLUTIONS. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 33, 854-861, doi:10.1109/tbme.1986.325779 (1986).
Cohen, D. & Cuffin, B. N. A METHOD FOR COMBINING MEG AND EEG TO DETERMINE THE SOURCES. Physics in Medicine and Biology 32, 85-89, doi:10.1088/0031-9155/32/1/013 (1987).
Cuffin, B. N. THE ROLE OF MODEL AND COMPUTATIONAL EXPERIMENTS IN THE BIOMAGNETIC INVERSE PROBLEM. Physics in Medicine and Biology 32, 33-42, doi:10.1088/0031-9155/32/1/006 (1987).
Cohen, D. et al. COMPARISON OF MEG VERSUS EEG SPIKE LOCALIZATION - SOME RESULTS IN A PATIENT GROUP WITH FOCAL SPIKES. Epilepsia 29, 688-689 (1988).
Cohen, D. et al. MEG VERSUS EEG LOCALIZATION TEST USING IMPLANTED SOURCES IN THE HUMAN BRAIN. Annals of Neurology 28, 811-817, doi:10.1002/ana.410280613 (1990).
Cohen, D. & Cuffin, B. N. EEG VERSUS MEG LOCALIZATION ACCURACY THEORY AND EXPERIMENT. Brain Topography 4, 95-104, doi:10.1007/bf01132766 (1991).
Cohen, D. & Cuffin, B. N. DEVELOPING A MORE FOCAL MAGNETIC STIMULATOR .1. SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES. Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology 8, 102-111, doi:10.1097/00004691-199101000-00013 (1991).
Cuffin, B. N. MOVING DIPOLE INVERSE SOLUTIONS USING MEGS MEASURED ON A PLANE OVER THE HEAD. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 78, 341-347, doi:10.1016/0013-4694(91)90096-m (1991).
Cuffin, B. N. ECCENTRIC SPHERES MODELS OF THE HEAD. Ieee Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 38, 871-878, doi:10.1109/10.83607 (1991).
Cuffin, B. N. et al. TESTS OF EEG LOCALIZATION ACCURACY USING IMPLANTED SOURCES IN THE HUMAN BRAIN. Annals of Neurology 29, 132-138, doi:10.1002/ana.410290204 (1991).
Cuffin, B. N. EFFECTS OF LOCAL VARIATIONS IN SKULL AND SCALP THICKNESS ON EEGS AND MEGS. Ieee Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 40, 42-48, doi:10.1109/10.204770 (1993).
O'Donnell, B.F., Cohen, R.A., Hokama, H., Cuffin, B.N., Lippa, C., Shenton, M.E. and Drachman, D.A. ELECTRICAL SOURCE ANALYSIS OF AUDITORY ERPS IN MEDIAL TEMPORAL-LOBE AMNESTIC SYNDROME. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 87, 394-402, doi:10.1016/0013-4694(93)90153-m (1993).
O'Donnell, B.F., Cohen, R.A., Hokama, H., Cuffin, B.N., Lippa, C., Shenton, M.E. and Drachman, D.A. Electrical source analysis of auditory ERPs in medial temporal lobe amnestic syndrome. Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology 87, 394-402 (1993).
Cuffin, B. N. A METHOD FOR LOCALIZING EEG SOURCES IN REALISTIC HEAD MODELS. Ieee Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 42, 68-71, doi:10.1109/10.362917 (1995).
Cuffin, B. N. EEG localization accuracy improvements using realistically shaped head models. Ieee Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 43, 299-303, doi:10.1109/10.486287 (1996).
Cuffin, B. N. EEG dipole source localization. Ieee Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine 17, 118-122, doi:10.1109/51.715495 (1998).
Krings, T., Chiappa, K. H., Cuffin, B. N., Buchbinder, B. R. & Cosgrove, G. R. Accuracy of electroencephalographic dipole localization of epileptiform activities associated with focal brain lesions. Annals of Neurology 44, 76-86, doi:10.1002/ana.410440114 (1998).
Cuffin, B. N. Using implanted sources to develop improved methods for EEG source localization. Int J Psychophysiol 33, 49-49 (1999).
Krings, T., Chiappa, K.H., Cuffin, B.N., Cochius, J.I., Connolly, S. and Cosgrove, G.R. Accuracy of EEG dipole source localization using implanted sources in the human brain. Clinical Neurophysiology 110, 106-114, doi:10.1016/s0013-4694(98)00106-0 (1999).
Cuffin, B. N., Schomer, D. L., Ives, J. R. & Blume, H. Experimental tests of EEG localization accuracy. Epilepsia 41, 4-5 (2000).
Cuffin, B. N. Effects of modeling errors and EEG measurement montage on source localization accuracy. Journal of clinical neurophysiology : official publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society 18, 37-44, doi:10.1097/00004691-200101000-00008 (2001).
Cuffin, B. N., Schomer, D. L., Ives, J. R. & Blume, H. Experimental tests of EEG source localization accuracy in spherical head models. Clinical Neurophysiology 112, 46-51, doi:10.1016/s1388-2457(00)00488-0 (2001).
Cuffin, B. N., Schomer, D. L., Ives, J. R. & Blume, H. Experimental tests of EEG source localization accuracy in realistically shaped head models. Clinical Neurophysiology 112, 2288-2292, doi:10.1016/s1388-2457(01)00669-1 (2001).
Other non-journal writings are not listed here. Neil was indeed productive.