Professor David Burke works in the applied sciences and is recognised as one of the world's leading clinical neurophysiologists. His unique contributions have been 1) to define the role of feedback from muscle sensors in controlling movement by recording from single nerve fibres in awake cooperative human subjects and by studying their projection to the spinal cord and brain, and 2) to develop specialised techniques to study abnormal nerve excitability and to monitor brain and spinal cord function during surgery. His research work is of fundamental importance in understanding normal movement and the mechanisms of neurological disease, in improving diagnosis and in preventing disability.