Professor Gerald Hüther is a neurobiologist and chairman of the Academy for Potential Development.

After studying biology, he completed a research degree and doctorate at the University of Leipzig. He completed his habilitation at the Medical Faculty of the University of Göttingen. In addition to his scientific work at the Zoological Institute of the University of Leipzig and Jena, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen and on a Heisenberg scholarship of the DFG and at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Göttingen. His scientific topics are in particular the influence of early experiences on brain development, the effects of anxiety and stress, and the importance of emotional reactions. Hüther is the author of numerous scientific publications, author of non-fiction and author of popular science presentations. Since 2015, he has been a board member of the Academy for Potential Development.

For the psychoanalyst Erik. H. Erikson, the ultimate goal of a successful life was to achieve ego integrity: for him, this meant a feeling of wholeness and a fundamental satisfaction with oneself.

What does a fulfilled life mean to you? What drives you in life?

This is a question that everyone can only answer for themselves.

Often everyone finds his answer in childhood. In every life there is something that touches a person deeply. I grew up on a farm and fell in love with the diversity of life. That’s why, I think, I became a biologist and do my work today.

I just can’t reconcile it with my conscience and watch inactively as a temporarily misguided species is about to ruin this diversity of living things on our planet that has grown over millions of years.