caption birth_place image_size nationality fields birth_date known_for image article_title name
gottesman with his books cleveland , ohio 300 american psychiatric genetics 29 december 1930 genetic studies of schizophrenia irving_gottesman . jpg irving gottesman
 irving isadore gottesman
irving gottesman

irving isadore gottesman -lrb- born december 29 , 1930 -rrb- is a professor of psychology who has devoted most of his career to the study of the genetics of schizophrenia .
he has written 17 books and more than 290 other publications , mostly on schizophrenia and behavioral genetics , and created the first academic program on behavioral genetics in the united states .
he has won awards such as the hofheimer prize for research , the highest award from the american psychiatric association for psychiatric research .
gottesman is a professor in the psychology department at the university of minnesota , where he received his ph.d. .
a native of ohio , gottesman studied psychology for his undergraduate and graduate degrees , became a faculty member at various universities , and spent most of his career at the university of virginia and the university of minnesota .
he is known for researching schizophrenia in identical twins to document the contributions of genetics and the family , social , cultural , and economic environment to the onset , progress , and inter-generational transmission of the disorder .
gottesman has worked with researchers to analyze hospital records and conduct follow-up interviews of twins where one or both were schizophrenic .
he has also researched the effects of genetics and the environment on human violence and variations in human intelligence .
gottesman and co-researcher james shields introduced the word epigenetics -- the control of genes by biochemical signals modified by the environment from other parts of the genome -- to the field of psychiatric genetics .
gottesman has written and co-written a series of books which summarize his work .
these publications include raw data from various studies , their statistical interpretation , and possible conclusions presented with necessary background material .
the books also include first-hand accounts of schizophrenic patients and relatives tending to them , giving an insight into jumbled thoughts , the disorder 's primary symptom .
gottesman and shields have built models to explain the cause , transmission , and progression of the disorder , which is controlled by many genes acting in concert with the environment , with no cause sufficient by itself .
