Which scientist won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research on the cochlea?

Georg von Békésy won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research on the cochlea.

Békésy investigated how the inner ear converts sound vibrations into nerve signals. Through anatomical studies and physical models, he showed that sound creates traveling waves along the cochlea’s basilar membrane, with different frequencies producing their strongest responses at different locations.

This place-based organization, called tonotopy, helps explain how the auditory system separates pitch. The cochlea is a spiral-shaped structure in the inner ear containing sensory hair cells that transmit information to the auditory nerve.

Békésy’s Nobel recognition concerned discoveries of the physical mechanisms of stimulation within the cochlea. It was not a prize for inventing a hearing aid or for discovering the auditory nerve. Later research refined the picture, but the traveling-wave model remains foundational in auditory science.