Allan Rechtschaffen, who was central to the development of sleep research as a scientific discipline, died on November 29 at the age of 93. He is best known for his work probing the function of sleep, including some of the first research detailing the severe health consequences of sleep deprivation.
Born December 8, 1927 in Manhattan, Rechtschaffen grew up in the Bronx, The New York Times reports. His father was a tailor, while his mother cared for Rechtschaffen and his siblings. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1949 with a degree in psychology, staying on to earn his master’s in 1951. He obtained a PhD from Northwestern University in 1956, then taught psychology there and performed research with the Veterans Administration (now known as the Department of Veterans Affairs) for a year after graduating.
Rechtschaffen took on a faculty position at the University of Chicago in ...
