Raised in
Santiago, Bezanilla took an early interest in science. When Chile hosted the
1962 World Cup, it was uncommon for people to own televisions, so Bezanilla and a friend began building their own television to watch the tournament. While the rudimentary TV was not completed in time for the World Cup, Bezanilla later built a better TV with commercial parts from Argentina, and Bezanilla's family used it for many years. Bezanilla earned an undergraduate biology degree as well as master's and Ph.D. degrees in biophysics, all from the
Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He conducted research on the nerve cells of
Humboldt squid at the
Montemar Institute of Marine Biology. Leaving Chile for the United States in 1969, Bezanilla completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the
National Institutes of Health. While in the US, Bezanilla heard that the Humboldt squid was no longer available in Chilean waters. Also noting the political changes in Chile under
Augusto Pinochet, he decided to stay in the US. Working on gating current experiments, he became a frequent collaborator with
Clay Armstrong, who he had met at Montemar. Bezanilla was elected a member of the
National Academy of Sciences in 2006. He was the 2013-2014 president of the
Biophysical Society. Some of his recent work includes the application of light pulses to gold nanoparticles to activate neurons. He is a member of the Editorial Board for
PNAS. Bezanilla's daughter Magdalena is a biologist and university professor. ==References==