CBBS Members

Henning Scheich (1942 - 2025) was a German neurophysiologist and learning researcher of international standing. After reunification, he became the founding director of what is today the Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology in Magdeburg and, with great enthusiasm and political skill, established a widely visible center of modern neuroscience around the institute. He was deeply committed to extensive collaboration with the Otto von Guericke University and was one of the founding fathers of the Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences.  
Thanks to his strategic initiatives, the early establishment of magnetic resonance imaging scanners for neurobiological research in Magdeburg was successful, and the commissioning of the Europe-wide first 7-tesla scanner will forever be associated with his self-experiment in front of live cameras.  
As Scientific Vice President of the Leibniz Association from 1995 to 2003, he guided the scientific organization through politically difficult times and had a formative influence on the German research landscape. Henning Scheich was fascinated by how signals from the environment, and particularly acoustic information, are processed, filtered, and interpreted in the brain, shaping the behavior of the individual. He wanted to understand how motivation modulates our learning and memory, and how optimal learning conditions can be created. In the societal debate on education, he repeatedly voiced his opinions and vehemently defended neurobiologically based learning concepts. His credo: learning is not only a task for research but can also be regarded as an optimistic concept for society.
Henning Scheich was a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, recipient of the Order of Merit of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, and honorary member of the CBBS.

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