The image to the right is a reconstructed neuron from the cerebral cortex was was featured in the 1989 Evans and Sutherland Calendar.

This image was produced with my software on an Evans and Sutherland PS330 (remember those vector display devices?).

The cell body (soma) is represented in blue. The neuron’s dendrites (receive electronic inputs from other cells) appear in green, and the axons (cell’s output branches) are represented in red. The white dots represent the locations of boutons. Boutons are where synapses occur - each synapse is a place where the axon’s outputs can be carried to the branches of other neurons.

To create this image, a physiological experiment was conducted in vivo to identify the type of neuron and to tag it with a dye for later identification. The three-dimensional camera lucida software mentioned above was used to trace this cell while viewing it through a microscope; the separate sections were then pieced together using semi-automated matching software I wrote. The final display could be viewed, rotated, scaled, and translated using the control dials of the Evans and Sutherland workstation. (1986-1989)