Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 17, 2026

Friedrich Stephan

Dr. Friedrich Karl Stephan is an American academic who is a circadian physiologist. He is the Curt P. Richter Distinguished Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Florida State University. His research focuses on localization and function of biological clocks in vertebrates, light and food as entraining signals for circadian rhythms, obesity, sleep, and reproduction. He is credited as the discoverer of the suprachiasmatic nucleus.

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Jul 17, 2026
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Friedrich Stephan
Born(1941-05-27)May 27, 1941
Scientific career
FieldsCircadian physiology

Dr. Friedrich Karl Stephan (born May 27, 1941) is an American academic who is a circadian physiologist. He is the Curt P. Richter Distinguished Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Florida State University. His research focuses on localization and function of biological clocks in vertebrates, light and food as entraining signals for circadian rhythms, obesity,1 sleep, and reproduction.2 He is credited as the discoverer of the suprachiasmatic nucleus ("body clock").3

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References

References

  1. "The Body Might Have Built-In Dinner-Bell, Studies Hint". Miami Herald, Oct. 6, 1992.
  2. Cassone, Vincent (2005). "The Clock that Tells the Time". Nature Neuroscience. 8 (1). Nature: 1165. doi:10.1038/nn0105-3.
  3. Foster, Russell G.; Kreitzman, Leon (2005). Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clocks that Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing. Yale University Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-300-10969-6.