Santiago Ramón y Cajal Camillo Golgi
ALL IN THE HEAD refined by Cajal and was the basis for developing the neuron theory , in which every nerve cell was discrete and signals flowed in one direction from dendrite through the body and to the axon . Golgi never accepted this theory , believing that all nerve cells shared intimate connections and formed a syncytium allowing signals to flow in all directions .
given to nationality , but that the prize be awarded to the worthiest person , whether or not they are Scandinavian .” 3
The Norwegian committee was approved and established relatively early , but the three Swedish institutions were reluctant , in no small part because of the nationality clause which they thought should give preference to Sweden . By 1900 , the Foundation and systems were in place allowing the first Nobel Prizes to be awarded in 1901 . The first Nobel Laureates were : Wilhelm Röntgen ( Physics : discovery of X-Rays ); Jacobus van ’ t Hoff ( Chemistry : contributions in chemical thermodynamics ); Sully Prudhomme ( Literature : for his body of writing ); Emil von Behring ( Physiology or Medicine : development of diphtheria anti-toxin ); and both Jean Henri Dunant and Fédéric Passy ( Peace : Dunant for founding the International Red Cross movement and initiating the Geneva Convention ; and Passy , founder of the Peace League and for his activity with Dunant in the Alliance for Order and Civilization ). 4
SCIENTIFIC SUICIDE
Camillo Golgi ( July 7 , 1843 Corteno , Italy - Jan . 21 , 1926 Pavia , Italy ) was one of the most famous and influential scientists in the world at that time . He fully deserved to receive the Nobel Prize . He was nominated every year from 1901 to 1906 . Golgi , an histologist , discovered basic structures of the cell we know now as the Golgi apparatus , the Golgi complex and many others .
In the Winter of 1872-73 , while working in a makeshift laboratory in his kitchen and after many trials , Golgi developed a method of visualizing neural structures by impregnating neural tissue with metal . He called it the “ reazione nera ” or “ black reaction ” ( also known as the Golgi Method , or Chrome-Silver reaction ). With it , the delicate nerve bodies and fibers were revealed as black structures against the counterstained background . This reaction was
On Dec . 11 , 1906 he gave his Nobel Laureate lecture . Golgi biographer , Paolo Mazzarello , Professor of History of Medicine at the University of Pavia , Italy , states in the preface to his book , Golgi : A Biography of the Founder of Modern Neuroscience : “… during the award ceremony … Golgi committed scientific suicide .” He continues : “ For reasons that are difficult to fathom , he devoted his acceptance speech to a relentless critique of the neuron theory and its main proponent , his co-awardee Ramón Cajal .” 5
Cajal ’ s address was scheduled for the next day . He refused to retaliate . Following the tradition of a public lecture to describe the Laureate ’ s work , he presented the neuron theory and his contribution to it , with generous references to the contributions of Golgi . But , per his autobiography , Recollections of My Life , he was deeply hurt and angry . 6
Golgi ’ s reputation with the scientific community eroded greatly , and sadly so . Given the importance of his discoveries to microscopic anatomy , his name , which is applied to so many cellular structures , is often not capitalized . Among Golgi ’ s many contributions to science , I suggest that his final gift is the mystery of how and why ( by what neurological and psychological mechanisms ) one can continue to hold and defend a belief that has been soundly disproven : no small problem for us today .
References :
1 https :// www . nobelpirze . org / prizes / medicine / 1906 / ceremony-speech
2 https :// www . nobelprize . org / nobel-banquet-1906 /
3 https :// www . nobelprize . org / alfred-nobel / full-text-of-alfred-nobels-will-2 /
4 https :// www / nobelprize . org / prizes / themes / the-very-first-nobel-prizes
5
Golgi : A Biography of the Founder of Modern Neuroscience ; Mazzarello , Paolo , ( translated by Aldo Badiani and Henry A . Buchtel ) Oxford University Press 2010 ; page v-vi .
6
Recollections of My Life : Santiago Ramón y Cajal ( Translated by Horne Craigie with Juan Cano ) MIT Press ( paperback edition ) 1989 ; pp 549-554 .
Dr . Bybee is a life member of GLMS in endocrinology , and currently resides in Bozeman , Montana .
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