Approach the life of Santiago Ramon y CajaHe is approaching the world of science, of research. Perhaps the most deserved Nobel Prize in Spain in history. He changed the way of researching and studying the nervous system, and that is why he is considered the father of current neuroscience and even today, in the 21st century, his illustrations on the nervous system continue to illustrate the medical books that are published. let’s get to know the Biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal: His entire lifehow was his childhood, his youth, what made him dedicate himself to science and become D. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, scientist.
Biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal | Childhood
On May 1, 1852, Santiago Ramón Cajal was born in Petilla de Aragón, the son of Justo Ramón Casasús and Antonia Cajal, a couple from Larrés, a town belonging to Sabiñánigo, in the province of Huesca. His father was a doctor, a profession that forced the family to constantly change residence.
He attended primary studies in the Piarists of Jaca, while he completed high school in Huesca, at a time when the constant social upheavals had caused the departure of Queen Elizabeth II and the arrival of the First Republic, which coincided with the completion of of his high school studies.
A time when he begins to show his rebelliousness, refusing to memorize concepts, he also develops drawing skills for which he seemed to be gifted, drawings that he always made in contact with nature, a passion that led to another, his love of the mountains.
Biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal | adult life
Santiago Ramon y Cajal studied medicine in Zaragoza where the whole family had moved in 1870. He successfully completed his studies and graduated in 1873. That same year he is called up, military service was compulsory at that time, a law that had been established by Emilio Castelar, president of the First Republic.
Biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal – Adult Life | doctor in war
Within the military service, he presented himself to an opposition for the Military Health Corps, after passing outstandingly, he was assigned as second doctor to the Burgos regiment, quartered in Lérida to prevent the Carlist attacks on the Llanos de Urgel.
On the other hand, Cuba was waging the war of independence against Spain, the so-called Ten Years’ War. In 1874 Santiago is assigned to Cuba, the destination entailed a grade promotion, so he left as a lieutenant and arrived in Cuba as a Captain. Santiago had an ideal of tropical islands that would soon bring him to reality.
After rejecting letters of recommendation, he was destined for the worst place where he could be sent, the Vistahermosa infirmary, a place where cases of malaria and dysentery They crowded into an infirmary without resources and without material. Soon Santiago realized that it was not the island he had dreamed of, full of wild fauna and flora, so he was disappointed and seriously ill. ask to return to Spaina fact that occurs in June 1875.
Sick and waiting to recover his back pay, Santiago moved to his parents’ house where, with the care of his family, managed to recover resuming his studies now more focused on teaching and doctorate (1876-1877).
Biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal – Adult Life | Research
The year 1875 not only marked his return to Spain, but it was also the year in which his scientific vocation awoke. He received his doctorate in 1877 with the Pathogenesis of Inflammation Thesis.
With the money he had saved during his stay in Cuba, plus the overdue money they owed him, Santiago bought his first microscope. In 1876 he won a position as a guard assistant, he was in charge of his father’s private surgery patients at the Ntra. Sra. De Gracia Hospital, in Zaragoza.
In 1879 he obtained the position of Director of the Anatomical Museums of Zaragoza, it was also the year in which he married Silveria Fañanás, against the whole family and with whom he would live very happily all his life.
From the Chair of Descriptive Anatomy of the Faculty of Medicine of Valenciawon in 1882, was able to study the terrible cholera epidemic that devastated the city in 1885. In 1887, he occupied the Chair of Histology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona.
Biography of Santiago Ramón y Cajal – Adult Life | Recognition and Nobel
But without a doubt, 1888 was his great year, he began the study of nerve cell connections In order to better study their connections, he developed a system of exclusive dyes for neurons and nerves. Thanks to these tinctures he was able to show that Neurons are the fundamental element of nervous tissue.
A theory where his structural scheme of the nervous system was presented as a conglomeration of defined and independent units, this theory received the name of the neuron doctrine. A doctrine capable of explaining through law of dynamic polarizationwhy the transmission of the nerve impulse is unidirectional.
In 1892, he held the last chair, that of Normal Histology and Histochemistry and Pathological Anatomy of the Central University of Madrid. In 1900 he became the director of the Alfosno XII National Institute of Hygiene, where he also studied the structure of the cerebrum and cerebellum, the medulla, the medulla oblongata and other sensory centers, such as the retina.
After many requests, in 1901 he gets the government to create a modern laboratory for biological research. Laboratory in which he worked until his retirement in 1922.
With the attendance of Ramón y Cajal at the congress of the German Anatomical Society, held in Berlin, where he was able to expose his theories and present his work, the fame of Santiago Ramón y Cajal skyrocketed worldwide, his studies raised great interest such as the one had given rise to his work in Professor Kölliker.
proposed to Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, For his discovery of the structure of the nervous system and what the neuron within it means, he won it in 1906, shared with the also scientist C. Golgi.
Between 1897 and 1904 he published in installments his work Histology of the Nervous System of the Vertebrate Man. After his retirement he continued with his scientific work, at the Cajal Institute, until his death in Madrid, the October 18, 1934.
Prizes in life of Ramón y Cajal
Santiago Ramon y Cajal He is, almost without any doubt, one of the most outstanding Spanish researchers of all time. His research in the field of neurobiology came to be awarded with the most important award in the scientific world, the Nobel Prize, in 1906. Curiously, Ramón y Cajal had to share this award with one of his greatest rivals at the time, Von Kolliker, with whose ideas Ramón y Cajal did not agree at all. Given the great discoveries of both, the award jury decided to give the award to both.
This was the first time that a Spaniard won the Nobel Prize, and put the country in the eye of the world in terms of scientific investigation. It could be said that Ramón y Cajal was a true pioneer, often acting by putting money out of his own pocket for his studies, or seeking help abroad. Ortega y Gasset He summed up very well what it meant for Spain that Ramón y Cajal had obtained this award. For Ortega y Gasset, this award was an embarrassment for Spain, since it highlighted the little scientific research that had been carried out in Spain until then. But, on the other hand, he also considered it almost a miracle, since precisely the investigations to date were null.
However, the Nobel Prize was by no means the only prize that Ramón y Cajal received during his lifetime. Among his many awards we can mention, in chronological order, the Fauvelle Prize (1896), the Rubio Prize (1897), the Grand Cross of Alfonso XII (1900), the Grand Cross of Isabel la Católica (1901), the Martínez Prize and Molina (1902), the German Order of Merit (1915) or the Echegaray Medal, (1922). they are just some of the many accolades that Ramón y Cajal had in life. However, his work transcends the years and continues to endure to this day.
Posthumous recognition of Ramón y Cajal
The figure of Santiago Ramón y Cajal has received numerous awards and tributes posthumously, as it could not be otherwise given his importance.
The first tributes came when the 100 years of his death were completed. For example, the government of Francisco Franco appointed him Marquis posthumously, despite the fact that Ramón y Cajal had acknowledged being part of the masonrywith which the title would not be valid.
Numerous centers and universities have also honored the Spanish scientist in some way. For example, in the University of Havana in Cuba Commemorative events were also held for the centenary of his death, culminating in the discovery of a tombstone in his honor.
Ramón y Cajal’s studies represented an important advance in numerous medical and scientific matters. To recognize his work, in 1977 the Ramon y Cajal Hospital. In addition to bearing his name, in the gardens outside we can see a huge bust with the face of the famous researcher.
He was also reminded on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his death. To commemorate this date, a plaque in his honor was placed on the street where he lived for the last 20 years of his life, and where he did some of his most important work.
Other curiosities about Ramón y Cajal
In addition to being one of the best scientists of his time, Ramón y Cajal was characterized as a person of integrity and honesty, as evidenced by many of the anecdotes and stories that circulate about him. For example, when the government appointed him director of the biological research laboratoryconsidered that the salary assigned to him was too high and asked that it be lowered.
It is not the only example in this sense that reflects the honesty of Ramón y Cajal. For example, the government wanted to name him Health Ministerbut Ramón y Cajal rejected the position. Instead he became a member of the Senate for life. A palpable difference with the previous position is that this one did not have any type of economic remuneration.
Also, the story is famous that Ramón y Cajal sent his son to study abroad paying for the studies with their own money. Asking him why he didn’t send him with a scholarshipmore taking into account the more than good grades of his son and being the president of the Board for the Expansion of Studies and Scientific Research, Ramón y Cajal affirmed that precisely for that reason, because he was his son.
On the other hand, as a restless man that he was, Ramón y Cajal was also interested in other branches of knowledge. For example, he was passionate about studies of Photography and of the image. To understand Ramón y Cajal’s interest in photography and images, we must go back to his childhood, in Ayerbe, Huesca province.
In these years, a little Ramón y Cajal was punished a…