![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
Michel Jouvet in 1989. He helped define REM sleep as a unique state of consciousness common to humans and animals alike.
J. Forest/CNRS Phototheque; thumbnail, Michel Depardieu/Inserm, 2005
Michel Jouvet
Died on October 3, 2017 at age 91
Dr. Jouvet was a neurophysiologist who discovered the region of the brain that controls rapid eye movement, and who helped define REM sleep as a unique state of consciousness common to humans and animals alike.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.