For nearly a millennium, universities have searched for knowledge, understanding and truth. Internationally renowned neuroscientist, Professor Maxwell Bennett, evaluates the work of 20 of the greatest scholars in the University of Sydney's history and shows how this university's search has benefitted society in manifold ways.

The Search for Knowledge and Understanding demonstrates an interdisciplinary approach, as Bennett crafts short but insightful biographies of some of the most significant scholars that have worked at Australia's oldest university over the past half century, in medicine, the life sciences, the physical sciences and the humanities and social sciences.

Bennet provides a striking account of how this particular scholarly community has flourished by nurturing scholars and allowing them with the intellectual freedom to pursue their passions. The book clarifies the notion of understanding as it holds in different disciplines and depicts the benefit the world of scholarship can have on the wider community.