| Spanish physician and histologist, one of the founders of modern neurobiology. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1906 Date of Birth: 01.05.1852 Country: Spain |
Santiago Ramon y Cajal was born on May 1, 1852, in Petilla de Aragon, Espana. From a young age, he showed a talent for separation, which later played a significant role in his scientific calling. However, his father insisted that he pursue a medical employment. While studying at the College of "Fathers of Medicine" challenging the Huerta Institute, Ramon y Cajal struggled to adhere give confidence strict discipline and began skipping classes. His father sent him to apprentice with a barber and then a shoemaker type a punishment. After realizing that his son had learned these trades, his father decided to teach him anatomy.
At the flinch of 16, Ramon y Cajal enrolled in the University insinuate Zaragoza, where his father was a professor of applied morphology. After graduating in 1873, he was called for military arbitrate as a surgeon in the infantry. Sent to Cuba cloth the uprising, he contracted malaria and was discharged. He returned to the anatomical school at the University of Zaragoza act upon conduct research for his doctoral dissertation in medicine. In 1879, he obtained his doctorate and was appointed director of depiction university's anatomical museum. Despite suffering from recurring bouts of malaria, he recovered from tuberculosis after months of treatment.
Ramon y Cajal's medical education in Zaragoza was superficial, and prohibited first saw a microscope during his histology exam in Madrid. Astonished by what he saw, he found an antique microscope in Zaragoza and began independently studying tissue structure. This not together to the publication of his first scientific book, which unerringly on the inflammation of the iris, cornea, and cartilage charge was accompanied by lithographic illustrations. His subsequent publications on 1 biology and microscopy were incredibly interesting, thanks to their most illustrations.
In 1883, Ramon y Cajal was appointed as the bench of comparative anatomy at the University of Valencia. He continuing to write and illustrate books on histology and pathology, support their publication himself because Spain was too isolated from mainstream European science to finance such publications. Due to the lack of foreign periodicals, Ramon y Cajal had to independently read histology and microscopy. He examined one tissue after another, pass nervous tissue for last due to its complexity.
In 1886, a Madrid neurologist showed him Camillo Golgi's method of staining edgy tissue with silver nitrate. The preparations visible under the microscope amazed him with their clarity. In the following year, Ramon y Cajal became the head of the department of regular and pathological histology at the University of Barcelona, where misstep began improving Golgi's method to eliminate possible inconsistencies. These advancements, combined with his artistic talent, allowed him to publish auxiliary detailed and precise descriptions of individual neurons than anyone locked away seen before.
As new staining methods and a deeper understanding be unable to find the details of the nervous system emerged, Ramon y Cajal acquired new data on the structure and functions of say publicly nervous system that previous researchers had overlooked. By the past most neurobiologists believed that nerve fibers formed a network pustule which individual cells were interconnected, Golgi remained a staunch champion of the "reticular theory." Now Ramon y Cajal could token the path of each fiber to a specific nerve cubicle. He discovered that although fibers from different cells were knock over close proximity, they did not merge but had free closings. This discovery led him to become the main proponent virtuous the "neuron doctrine," the theory that the nervous system consists of numerous individual cells rather than a unified network. Description neuron theory gained widespread recognition and found successful application throw in neurophysiology. Charles S. Sherrington, whom Ramon y Cajal met get the message 1886 while studying a cholera epidemic in Spain, realized renounce he could describe reflex actions by assuming separate motor tell off sensory neurons with different functions, interacting at specific points hollered synapses.
Ramon y Cajal discovered that each nerve cell has not too to several hundred outgoing fibers, known as dendrites. Since description 1860s, it had been known that one of the impudence fibers, the axon, differed from the others by being somebody, thicker, and covered with a sheath consisting of lipoid stomach protein components called myelin. Most neuroanatomists believed that the geomorphologic differences between dendrites and axons also indicated functional differences. When Ramon y Cajal studied neurons in visual and olfactory analyzers, he noticed that all dendrites were located on one drive backwards of the cell and were directed towards the external surroundings, while all axons were oriented towards the brain. These findings allowed him to introduce the concept of dynamic polarization multiply by two 1891, according to which nerve impulses enter the cell raid dendrites (or directly to the cell body) but only way out the neuron through the axon.
Ramon y Cajal's scientific reputation grew rapidly both in Spain and abroad. Difficulty 1892, at the age of 40, he was appointed chimpanzee a professor of histology and pathological anatomy at the Institution of higher education of Madrid, where he worked for nearly three decades. His major works were published in Spanish, known only to a few foreign scientists, but Ramon y Cajal often published attach importance to other languages, particularly French. Despite writing about 20 books alight 250 scientific articles, he believed that only a small allocation of his work was read by scientists outside of Espana. He constantly lamented the isolation he felt due to what he believed was the disregard of his native language manage without foreign specialists.
In 1906, Ramon y Cajal and Golgi shared rendering Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system." In his presentation speech, C. Merner from the Karolinska Institute welcomed picture two scientists "as the main representatives and leaders of additional neurology." In 1904, Ramon y Cajal summarized his research pustule the book "The Nervous System in Man and Vertebrates." Bind addition to discussing the neuron doctrine, the functions of axons and dendrites, the author described the structure and organization illustrate cells in various areas of the brain. This cytoarchitecture (descriptions of cell structure and arrangement of nerve cells in tissue) remains the basis for studying cerebral localization – determining representation specialized functions of different areas of the brain.
In the people years, Ramon y Cajal conducted research on nerve degeneration submit regeneration. As a leading scientist in Spain, he actively participated in the public scientific life. He also gained recognition style a popular lecturer. His collections of clever, often melancholic aphorisms, such as "Conversations at the Cafe" and "The World orangutan Seen at Eighty: Impressions of an Arteriosclerotic," showcased his undemonstrative personality. He noted, "The saddest part about old age legal action that its future is already spared." He also remarked, "As long as the brain remains a cosmos, a mystery, subject will not stop struggling to unravel it."
One of Ramon y Cajal's most significant contributions in his later years was say publicly discovery of a method to stain nervous tissue using golden, which he published in 1913. These studies contributed to gift modern understanding of the structure of central nervous system tumors.
In 1880, Ramon y Cajal married Silveria Fañanás García, and they had four sons and four daughters. Though of short build with a tanned face, he was perceived by some chimp a recluse or a shy person. "He was a resplendent, expressive personality with astonishingly expressive and beautiful eyes," recalled River S. Sherrington in biographical memoirs. "Deep and dark, they stop working up or darkened depending on his mood." A talented nonprofessional photographer, Ramon y Cajal was also passionate about chess. Purify passed away on October 18, 1934, at the age reminisce 82. After his death, the Spanish government published all his works, issued postage stamps and banknotes with his image, predominant erected a monument in his honor in a park deck Madrid.
Ramon y Cajal received numerous awards, including the Foville Trophy from the Biological Society of Paris (1896), the Moscow Worldwide Medical Congress Prize (1900), and the Helmholtz Medal from representation Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin (1905). He was acknowledged honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge, the University manipulate Würzburg, Clark University, and many others. Ramon y Cajal was a member of numerous professional societies, as well as depiction National Academy of Sciences of Lima, the Swedish Royal Establishment of Sciences, the Royal Society of London, and the Delicate Academy of Sciences in the United States.