In memoriam: Risto Näätänen (1939-2023)

Abstract

Risto Näätänen, a distinguished member of the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR), died peacefully of COVID-19 in the hospital in Helsinki, Finland, on October 5, 2023, at the age of 84 years. He received the SPR Distinguished Contributions Award in 1995 (Ritter, 1996) and served as the president of the SPR from 1998–1999. Over the years, he also served as the president of the Federation of European Psychophysiology Societies, the Nordic Psychophysiological Society, the Brain Research Society of Finland, and the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. Moreover, he was an invited member of Academia Europaea and the International Academy of Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. He was also an honorary doctor of the University of Barcelona, University of Tartu, University of Jyväskylä, and University of Helsinki. In addition to the SPR Distinguished Contributions Award, he received many other awards, including the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship Award in 1979, the first National Science Award of Finland in 1997, the Award for Highly Exceptional and Prize-Worthy Contributions to Psychophysiology and Related Neurosciences of the International Organization of Psychophysiology in 2002, the Nordic Prize for Research within Neurodevelopmental Disorders (together with Teija Kujala) in 2007, and the Main Scientific Prize of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters in 2011.