Barbara Finlay, a Cornell University psychology professor emerita whose research challenged assumptions about how brains develop and evolve, died Sept. 12. She was 75.
Finlay joined Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences faculty in 1976 and spent four decades at the university. Her work in neuroscience earned the Cajal Club's 2024 Pinkney Harman Award for research on the evolution of the cortex and nervous system, according to a Cornell Chronicle remembrance.
Alexander Ophir, chair of Cornell's psychology department, described Finlay as a scholar who pressed colleagues to examine the roots of brain function rather than settle for prevailing theories. She published hundreds of papers and presentations and collaborated across scientific disciplines.
Research and leadership at Cornell
Finlay began by studying development of the optic nerve. She published a paper in the journal Nature during her first year as a junior professor, Ophir said, and went on to examine questions about the development and evolution of larger brains.
She served as director of graduate studies and chair of Cornell's psychology department. She also edited the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences for more than 20 years, established the Larry Taylor Lecture series and became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association for Psychological Science. She retired in 2016.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1950, Finlay earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Oberlin College in 1972 and a doctorate in brain and cognitive sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976, the year she joined Cornell.
Colleagues recall a mentor
Lucia Jacobs, a psychology and neuroscience professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, said Finlay hired her as a technician when Jacobs had little laboratory experience and taught her neuroscience. Cornell professor Shimon Edelman said Finlay, then department chair, supported his move from electrical engineering and computer science into psychology.
Professor David Field said Finlay helped newer faculty members navigate academic life and research funding. In his second year at Cornell, she allowed him to organize a small symposium that brought leading researchers on large-brain development to campus, an experience he said also benefited graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
Finlay is survived by her daughter Laura, Laura's wife Casey and their son Vaughn, and by her son Will and his wife Heather. The family requests donations to Wikipedia or the Finger Lakes Independence Center in lieu of flowers. A symposium honoring her work is being planned for spring.
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