Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a
SpanishSpanish people or Spaniards constitute the nationality and ethnic group of natives of Spain, a European country in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. The Spanish nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the complex history of Spain...
histologistHistology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It is performed by examining a thin slice of tissue under a light microscope or electron microscope...
,
physicianA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
, pathologist and Nobel laureate. His pioneering investigations of the microscopic structure of the brain were so original and influential that he is considered by many to be the greatest neuroscientist of all time. His skills as an artist allowed him to make hundreds of drawings still used for educational purposes today.
The son of Justo Ramón and Antonia Cajal, Ramón y Cajal was born of Aragonese parents in
Petilla de AragónPetilla de Aragón is a town and municipality of the autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. The municipality itself is formed by two enclaves that are entirely surrounded by the neighboring autonomous community of Aragon.The town is the birthplace of the famous scientist Santiago Ramón y...
in
NavarreNavarre is a region in northern Spain, constituting one of its autonomous communities - the "Chartered Community of Navarre" .-History:...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1 May 1852 – 17 October 1934) was a
SpanishSpanish people or Spaniards constitute the nationality and ethnic group of natives of Spain, a European country in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. The Spanish nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the complex history of Spain...
histologistHistology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals. It is performed by examining a thin slice of tissue under a light microscope or electron microscope...
,
physicianA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
, pathologist and Nobel laureate. His pioneering investigations of the microscopic structure of the brain were so original and influential that he is considered by many to be the greatest neuroscientist of all time. His skills as an artist allowed him to make hundreds of drawings still used for educational purposes today.
Biography
The son of Justo Ramón and Antonia Cajal, Ramón y Cajal was born of Aragonese parents in
Petilla de AragónPetilla de Aragón is a town and municipality of the autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. The municipality itself is formed by two enclaves that are entirely surrounded by the neighboring autonomous community of Aragon.The town is the birthplace of the famous scientist Santiago Ramón y...
in
NavarreNavarre is a region in northern Spain, constituting one of its autonomous communities - the "Chartered Community of Navarre" .-History:...
,
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
. As a child he was transferred between many different schools because of his poor behaviour and
anti-authoritarianAuthoritarianism describes a form of government characterized by an emphasis on the authority of state in a republic or union. It is a political system controlled by typically non-elected rulers who usually permit some degree of individual freedom....
attitude. An extreme example of his precociousness and rebelliousness is his imprisonment at the age of eleven for destroying the town gate with a homemade
cannonA cannon is any tubular piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
. He was an avid painter, artist, and
gymnastGymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Australia:*Monette Russo...
. He worked for a time as a shoemaker and barber, and was well known for his pugnacious attitude.
Ramón y Cajal attended the medical school of
ZaragozaZaragoza, also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community and former Kingdom of Aragon, Spain...
,
AragonAragon is an autonomous community of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces from north to south: Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza .Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees...
, from which he graduated in 1873. After a competitive examination, he served as a medical
officerAn officer is a member of an armed force who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
in the
Spanish ArmyThe Spanish Army is one of oldest active armies in the world and a branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, in charge of land operations. King Juan Carlos I is the Supreme Commnder-in-Chief of the Army....
. He took part in an expedition to Cuba in 1874-75, where he contracted
malariaMalaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by a eukaryotic protist of the genus Plasmodium. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria, killing between one and...
and
tuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
. After returning to Spain he married Silveria Fañanás García in 1879, with whom he had four daughters and three sons. He was appointed as a
professorThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
of the Universidad de Valencia in 1881, and in 1883 he received his
Doctor of MedicineThe Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians...
degree in
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
. He later held professorships in both
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
and Madrid. He was Director of the Zaragoza Museum (1879), Director of the National Institute of Hygiene (1899), and founder of the (1922) (later renamed to the , or
Cajal InstituteThe Cajal Institute is the largest neuroscience research center in Spain.The histologist Santiago Ramón y Cajal founded the Laboratorio de Investigaciones Biológicas in 1902 which later became the Instituto Cajal upon his retirement in 1922.The scientific activities of the institute follow a...
). He died in Madrid in 1934.
Works and theories
Ramón y Cajal's early work was accomplished at the Universities of Zagarosa and Valencia where he focused on the pathology of
inflammationInflammation is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. Inflammation is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue. Inflammation is not a...
, the microbiology of
choleraCholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Transmission to humans occurs through eating food or drinking water contaminated with Vibrio cholerae from other cholera patients...
, and the structure of epithelial cells and tissues. It was not until he moved to the University of Barcelona in 1887 that he learned Golgi's silver nitrate preparation and turned his attention to the central nervous system. During this period he made extensive studies of neural material covering a large variety of species and most major regions of the brain.
Ramón y Cajal's made several major contributions to neuroanatomy. He discovered the axonal growth cone, and provided the best evidence supporting Auguste Forel's theory of nerve cell contact. He provided detailed descriptions of cell types associated with neural structures, and produced excellent depictions of structures and their connectivity. He was an advocate of the existence of spines, although he did not recognize them as the site of contact from presynaptic cells. He was a proponent of polarization of nerve cell function and his student Lorente de No would continue this study of input/output systems into
cable theoryClassical cable theory uses mathematical models to calculate the flow of electric current along passive neuronal fibers particularly dendrites that receive synaptic inputs at different sites and times...
and some of the earliest circuit analysis of neural structures. Ramón y Cajal was a fierce defender of the neuron theory.
Distinctions and books
Among his many distinctions and societal memberships, Ramón y Cajal was also made an
honorary Doctor of MedicineAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements...
of the Universities of
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
and
WürzburgWürzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located on the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
and honorary
Doctor of PhilosophyDoctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin , meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, for the equivalent , is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities...
of the
Clark UniversityClark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
.
He published over 100 scientific works and articles in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
,
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
, and
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
. Among his most notable were
Rules and advices on scientific investigation,
Histology,
Degeneration and regeneration of the nervous system,
Manual of normal histology and micrographic technique,
Elements of histology,
Manual of general Anatomic PathologyPathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs, tissues, bodily fluids, and whole bodies...
,
New ideas on the fine anatomy of the nerve centres,
Textbook on the nervous system of man and the vertebrateVertebrates are members of the subphylum Vertebrata, chordates with backbones or spinal columns. About 58,000 species of vertebrates have been described. Vertebrata is the largest subphylum of chordates, and contains many familiar groups of large land animals. Vertebrates comprise cyclostomes, bony...
s, and
The retinaThe vertebrate retina is a light sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera. Light striking the retina initiates a cascade of chemical and electrical...
of vertebrates.
In 1905, he published five science-fictional "Vacation Stories" under the pen name "Dr. Bacteria."
In 1906 he has awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine...
together with an Italian man of science Golgi 'in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system'. This was seen as quite contreversial owing to the fact Golgi, a stout reticularist , disagreed with Cajal in his view of the neurone doctrine.
The
asteroidthumb|260px|right|[[253 Mathilde]], a [[C-type asteroid]] measuring about across. Photograph taken in 1997 by the [[NEAR Shoemaker]] probe.Asteroids, sometimes called minor planets or planetoids, are small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun, especially in the inner Solar System; they are...
117413 Ramonycajal117413 Ramonycajal is an asteroid discovered by Juan Lacruz on January 8, 2005. Its provisional name was '. It was named after Santiago Ramón y Cajal.-External links:*...
is named in his honour.
Publications about Cajal online
- Fishman RS. (2007). The Nobel Prize of 1906. Arch Ophthalmol. 125:690-4. (Review of the work of the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine...
winners Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal)
External links