Hundreds of his drawings illustrating thearborization (tree-like growth) of brain cells are still in use, since the mid-20th century, for educational and training purposes.[4]
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was born on 1 May 1852, in the town ofPetilla de Aragón,Navarre,Spain.[1] As a child, he was transferred many times from one school to another because of behavior that was declared poor, rebellious, andanti-authoritarian. An extreme example of his precociousness and rebelliousness at the age of eleven is his 1863 imprisonment for destroying his neighbor's yard gate with a homemade cannon.[5] He was a keen painter, artist, and gymnast, but his father neither appreciated nor encouraged these abilities, even though these artistic talents would contribute to his success later in life.[2] His father apprenticed him to a shoemaker and barber, to "try and give his son much-needed discipline and stability."[2]
Over the summer of 1868, his father took him to graveyards to find human remains for anatomical study. Early sketches of bones moved him to pursue medical studies.[6]: 207 Ramón y Cajal attended the medical school of theUniversity of Zaragoza, where his father worked as an anatomy teacher. He graduated in 1873, aged 21, and then served as a medical officer in theSpanish Army. He took part in anexpedition to Cuba in 1874–1875, where he contractedmalaria andtuberculosis.[7] To aid his recovery, Ramón y Cajal spent time in the spa-townPanticosa in thePyrenees mountain range.[8]
After returning to Spain, he received his doctorate in medicine in Madrid in 1877. Two years later, he became director of the Anatomical Museum at the University of Zaragoza and married Silveria Fañanás García, with whom he would have seven daughters and five sons. Ramón y Cajal worked at the University of Zaragoza until 1883, when he was awarded the position of anatomy professor of theUniversity of Valencia.[7][9] His early work at these two universities focused on the pathology of inflammation, the microbiology ofcholera, and the structure ofepithelial cells and tissues.[10]
Self-portrait as a student, 1870s
In 1887 Ramón y Cajal moved toBarcelona for a professorship.[7] There he first learned aboutGolgi's method, a cell staining method which uses potassium dichromate and silver nitrate to stain a subset of neurons a dark black color, while leaving the surrounding cells transparent. This method, which he improved, was central to his work, allowing him to turn his attention to thecentral nervous system (brain and spinal cord), in which neurons are so densely intertwined that standard microscopic inspection would be nearly impossible. During this period he made extensive detailed drawings of neural material, covering many species and most major regions of the brain.[11]
J. Harley Williams called Cajal the “Don Quixote of the microscope”.[12]
In 1892, he became professor at Madrid.[7] In 1899 he became director of theInstituto Nacional de Higiene – translated asNational Institute of Hygiene, and in 1922 founder of theLaboratorio de Investigaciones Biológicas – translated asLaboratory of Biological Investigations, later renamed toInstituto Cajal, orCajal Institute.[7]
He died in Madrid on October 17, 1934, at the age of 82,[13] continuing to work even on his deathbed.[7][14]
In 1877, the 25-year-old Ramón y Cajal joined aMasonic lodge.[15]: 156 John Brande Trend wrote in 1965 that Ramón y Cajal "was a liberal in politics, an evolutionist in philosophy, an agnostic in religion".[16]
Nonetheless, Ramón y Cajal used the term soul "without any shame".[17] He was said to later have regretted having left organized religion.[15]: 343 Ultimately, he became convinced of a belief in God as a creator, as stated during his first lecture before theSpanish Royal Academy of Sciences.[18][19]
In addition to being aregenerationist, Ramón y Cajal is considered aSpanish nationalist and centralist,[20] and in this sense he interprets non-Spanish nationalisms, such asCatalan andBasque, describing them as separatist.[21] Despite accepting theStatute of Núria, and, in the academic sphere, that classes can also be given inCatalan language at the university, he does not feel comfortable. And faced with a hypothetical dissolution of the homeland, in 1937,
This article or sectionappears to contradict itself. Please see thetalk page for more information.(November 2025)
“Whatever the defeatists and pusillanimous augurs may say, the impetus of our race is not easily extinguished... It is necessary to impose the moral unity of the Peninsula, to merge the dissonances and spiritual stridor into a grandiose symphony. But for this we need the iron surgeon that Costa spoke of”
Ramón y Cajal made several major contributions to neuroanatomy.[6] Excited by the discoveries ofFrederick C. Kenyon, he explored the insect visual nervous system with his colleague Domingo Sánchez y Sánchez. He was stunned by the variety of neuron types.[22] He discovered the axonalgrowth cone, and demonstrated experimentally that the relationship between nerve cells was notcontinuous, or a single system as per then extantreticular theory, but rathercontiguous;[6] there were gaps between neurons. This provided definitive evidence for whatHeinrich Waldeyer would name "neuron theory", now widely considered the foundation of modern neuroscience.[6] He is also considered by some to be the first "neuroscientist" since in 1894 he stated to theRoyal Society of London: "The ability of neurons to grow in an adult and their power to create new connections can explain learning." This statement is considered to be the origin of the synaptic theory of memory.[23]
He was an advocate of the existence ofdendritic 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,Rafael Lorente de Nó, would continue this study of input-output systems intocable theory and some of the earliest circuit analysis of neural structures.[24]
By producing depictions of neural structures and their connectivity and providing detailed descriptions of cell types he discovered a new type of cell, which was subsequently named after him, theinterstitial cell of Cajal (ICC).[25] This cell is found interleaved among neurons embedded within thesmooth muscles lining the gut, serving as the generator and pacemaker of theslow waves of contraction which movematerial along thegastrointestinal tract, mediating neurotransmission from motor neurons to smooth muscle cells.
In his 1894Croonian Lecture, Ramón y Cajal suggested (in an extended metaphor) that corticalpyramidal cells may become more elaborate with time, as a tree grows and extends its branches.[26]
He studied some psychological phenomena, such as hypnotic suggestion to alleviate pain, which he used to help his wife during labor. A book he had written on these topics was lost during theSpanish Civil War.[27]
During his studies on the optic chiasma, Cajal developed avisual map-based theory offering an evolutionary explanation for the decussation of nerve fibres and the chiasm of the optic tract.[28][29]
In 1906 JoaquinSorolla y Bastida painted Cajal's official portrait celebrating his Nobel Prize win.[35]
Cajal posed for a statue that was created by the sculptorMariano Benlliure and was installed in 1924 in the Paraninfo building at the School of Medicine of theUniversity of Zaragoza.
In 1931 a monument was unveiled in Madrid, Spain. This full-body statue stands 3 meters (around 10 ft) high on a narrow pedestal and was created by Lorenzo Domínguez,[36] a Chilean medical student.
In 1935, El Banco De España issued a 50 peseta banknote featuring a portrait of Cajal on the front and the Cajal Monument in Retiro Park on the back.
50 peseta banknote from 1935 – front side50 peseta banknote from 1935 – reverse side
1982 a TV mini series was created in Spain titledRamón y Cajal: Historia de una voluntad.[37]
In 2003, the first major exhibition of Cajal's scientific drawings opened in Madrid, Spain. The exhibition featured hundreds of restored original drawings, micrographic slides, and personal photographs created by Cajal. The accompanying catalog titledSantiago Ramon y Cajal (1852–2003) Ciencia y Arte[38] features numerous high quality reproductions of Cajal's drawings and photo essays on the restoration process. Exhibition curators and contributing authors to the catalog include: Santiago Ramón y Cajal Junquera, Miguel Ángel Freire Mallo, Paloma Esteban Leal, Pablo García, Virginia G. Marin, Ma Cruz Osuna, Isabel Argerich Fernández, Paloma Calle, Marta C. Lopera, Ricardo Martínez, Pilar Sedano Espín, Eugenia Gimeno Pascual, Sonia Tortajada, and Juan Antonio Sáez Dégano.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal Museum,Ayerbe, Huesca, Spain opened in 2013 and is located in Cajal's childhood home, where he lived with his family for ten years.[40]
In 2014, theNational Institutes of Health initiated an ongoing exhibition of original Ramón y Cajal drawings in the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center, located in theNIH central campus in Bethesda, MD, USA. The exhibition concept was spearheaded by NINDS Senior Researcher Jeffery Diamond and NINDS science writer Christopher Thomas and was made possible through close collaboration with theInstituto Cajal, Madrid, Spain.[41] The exhibition also includes contemporary artwork curated by Jeff Diamond, which was created by artistsRebecca Kamen and Dawn Hunter.[42] Inspired by Cajal's original drawings, Kamen's and Hunter's artworks are thematically representative of Cajal's aesthetic and are on permanent display for the public at the John Porter Neuroscience Research Center. Through the award of a 2017–2018 Fulbright España Senior Research Fellowship[43][44] to the Instituto Cajal, Madrid, Spain, Hunter continued to develop her creative project about Cajal by referencing original source material.[45][46]
A selection of Cajal's scientific drawings, personal photos, oil paintings, and pastel drawings were curated into the 14th Istanbul Biennial,Saltwater, that was held in Istanbul, Turkey from September 5 – November 1, 2015.[47]
The exhibitionFisiología de los Sueños. Cajal, Tanguy, Lorca, Dalí... opened on October 5, 2015, and ended on January 16, 2016, at the University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain. Cajal's work was the centerpiece topic of the exhibition and the show explored the influence of histological drawings on Surrealism.[48]
From January 31 – May 29, 2016, Cajal's work was featured in the inaugural exhibition for the re-opening of University of California'sBerkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film ArchiveArchitecture of Life. The catalog for the exhibition featured Cajal's drawing of the Purkinje Cell on the front cover.[49]
The National Institutes of Health, USA, and the Instituto Cajal, Spain, held collaborative symposiums honoring Cajal on October 28, 2015, and May 24, 2017. The first symposium held at the NIH in 2015 was titledBridging the Legacy of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a symposium honoring the father of modern neuroscience. Keynote speaker Dr. Rafael Yuste was honored at a reception held at the Spanish Ambassador's, Ramón Gil-Casares, home. The second symposium titled,New Opportunities for NIH-CSIC Collaboration, was held at the Instituto Cajal in 2017. Dawn Hunter'sCajal Inventory art project was exhibited at the symposium for the general public in the institute's library. TheCajal Inventory consists of forty-five 11” x 14” drawings in which Hunter recreated in fine detail Cajal's scientific drawings from primary source, and surreal portrait drawings of Cajal inspired by his photography.[50]
Every year since 2001, more than two hundred postdoctoral scholarships are awarded by theSpanish Ministry of Science to middle career scholars from different fields of knowledge. They are called "Ayudas a contratos Ramón y Cajal" to honor his memory.[51]
An exhibition calledThe Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal travelled through North America, beginning 2017 in the US at theWeisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The exhibition traveled to theMorris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,[52]Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York City, New York, USA,[53][54][55]MIT Museum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA,[56] and ended in April 2019 at theAckland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.[57]The Beautiful Brain book, published by Abrams,[58] New York, accompanied the exhibition.
During 2019, the University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain opened an exhibition about Cajal titledSantiago Ramón y Cajal. 150 years at the University of Zaragoza. The exhibition had an accompanying catalog that featured the same title.[59] The exhibition opened October 2019 and closed at the end of December 2019.
A short documentary by REDES is available onYouTube.[60]
From November 19, 2020, to December 5, 2021, theNational Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid, Spain, hosted an exhibition featuring Cajal's scientific drawings, photographs, scientific equipment and personal objects from the Legado Cajal, Instituto Cajal, Madrid, Spain.[61]
In 2020, over 75 volunteers collaborated as part of The Cajal Embroidery Project across 6 countries to create 81 intricate, exquisite hand-stitched panels of Ramón y Cajal's images, which were then curated and displayed byEdinburgh Neuroscience at the virtual FENS 2020 Forum, and showcased byThe Lancet Neurology in their front covers in 2021.[62]
In 2017,UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recognised Cajal's Legacy (which had been kept in a museum from 1945 to 1989) as a World Heritage treasure. Recognising that this cultural treasure deserves a dedicated museum, showcasing not only Cajal's but also his disciples’ legacies, there has been a call for a dedicated museum to commemorate and celebrate Ramón y Cajal's discoveries and impact on neuroscience.[63]
Project Encephalon organised Cajal Week to celebrate his 169th birth anniversary from 1 May to 7 May 2021.[64]
The Brain In Search Of Itself,[65] an English language biography, was published in 2022.
Ramón y Cajal, Santiago (1898). "Estructura del quiasma óptico y teoría general de los entrecruzamientos de las vías nerviosas. (Structure of the Chiasma opticum and general theory of the crossing of nerve tracks)" [Die Structur des Chiasma opticum nebst einer allgemeine Theorie der Kreuzung der Nervenbahnen (German, 1899, Verlag Joh. A. Barth)].Rev. Trim. Micrográfica (in Spanish).3:15–65.
Ramón y Cajal, Santiago (1999) [1897].Advice for a Young Investigator. Translated by Neely Swanson and Larry W. Swanson. Cambridge:MIT Press.ISBN0-262-68150-1.
First illustration by Cajal (1888) of the nervous system. (A) First page of the article. (B) Vertical section of a cerebellar convolution of a hen. (C) Cerebellum of an adult bird. (D) Higher magnification of (C) showing Purkinje cell. (E) Dendrite of the Purkinje cell.
Drawing of the neural circuitry of the rodenthippocampus.Histologie du Système Nerveux de l'Homme et des Vertébrés, Vols. 1 and 2. A. Maloine. Paris. 1911
Drawing of the cells of the chickcerebellum, from "Estructura de los centros nerviosos de las aves", Madrid, 1905
Drawing of a section through theoptic tectum of a sparrow, from "Estructura de los centros nerviosos de las aves", Madrid, 1905
From "Structure of the MammalianRetina" Madrid, 1900
Drawing ofPurkinje cells (A) and granule cells (B) from pigeon cerebellum by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, 1899. Instituto Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain
Drawn in 1899, taken from the book "Comparative study of the sensory areas of the human cortex"
schema of the visual map theory (1898). O=Optic chiasm; C=Visual (and motor) cortex; M, S=Decussating pathways; R, G: Sensory nerves, motor ganglia.
Purkinje cell of the human cerebellum. Golgi method. -a, axon; b, recurrent collateral; c and d, spaces in the dendritic arborization for stellate cells, by Santiago Ramón y Cajal. (See Fig. 9 in Ref.[68])
^abJosé María López Piñero, "Santiago Ramón y Cajal", Universita de València
^John Brande Trend (1965).The Origins of Modern Spain. Russell & Russell. p. 82.Ramón y Cajal was a liberal in politics, an evolutionist in philosophy, an agnostic in religion...
^DISCURSO DEL SR. D. SANTIAGO RAMÓN Y CAJALTEMA: FUNDAMENTOS RACIONALES Y CONDICIONES TÉCNICAS DE LAINVESTIGACIÓN BIOLÓGICA Sesquicentenario de Santiago Ramon y Cajal, 23 pages, p. 39-40:Y a los que te dicen que la Ciencia apaga toda poesía, secando las fuentes del sentimiento y el ansia de misterio que late en el fondo del alma humana, contéstales que á la vana poesía del vulgo, basada en una noción errónea del Universo, noción tan mezquina como pueril, tú sustituyes otra mucho más grandiosa y sublime, que es la poesía de la verdad, la incomparable belleza de la obra de Dios y de las leyes eternas por Él establecidas. Él acierta exclusivamente a comprender algo de ese lenguaje misterioso que Dios ha escrito en los fenómenos de la Naturaleza; y a él solamente le ha sido dado desentrañar la maravillosa obra de la Creación para rendir a la Divinidad uno de los cultos más gratos y aceptos a un Supremo entendimiento, el de estudiar sus portentosas obras, para en ellas y por ellas conocerle, admirarle y reverenciarle. [English Translation: P. 39-40: To those who tell you that Science quenches all poetry, drying up the sources of feeling and the longing for the mystery that pulses in the depths of the human soul, tell them that in the vain poetry of the people, based on an erroneous notion of Universe, as petty as it is puerile, you substitute a much more grandiose and sublime one, which is the poetry of truth, the incomparable beauty of the work of God and the eternal laws established by him. He is only able to understand something of that mysterious language that God has written in the phenomena of Nature; And he has only been able to unravel the wonderful work of Creation to render to the Divinity one of the most grateful and accepted cults to a supreme understanding, to study his portentous works, for them and for them to know, to admire and to revere him ]
^Alonso Peñ, José Ramón; De Carlos Segovia, Juan Andrés.CAJAL: UN GRITO POR LA CIENCIA (en castellà). Next Door Publishers S.L., 30-10-2018, p. 122-131. ISBN 9788494781094
^abSALVADOR, Julio Salvador. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, 85 años después de su muerte. Apuntes sobre su última obra literaria.Razón y fe, 2020, 281.1443: 43-54.
^Chittka, Lars (2022).The Mind of a Bee. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press. p. 150.
^Higgins, Edmund S. (16 February 2018).The neuroscience of clinical psychiatry : the pathophysiology of behavior and mental illness. George, Mark S. (Mark Stork), 1958– (Third ed.). Philadelphia.ISBN978-1-4963-7202-4.OCLC1048335337.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Ramón y Cajal, Santiago (1898). "Estructura del quiasma óptico y teoría general de los entrecruzamientos de las vías nerviosas. (Structure of the Chiasma opticum and general theory of the crossing of nerve tracks)" [Die Structur des Chiasma opticum nebst einer allgemeine Theorie der Kreuzung der Nervenbahnen (German, 1899, Verlag Joh. A. Barth)].Rev. Trim. Micrográfica (in Spanish).3:15–65.
^Pauly, John Edward; Basmajian, John V.; Christensen, A. Kent; Jollie, William P.; Kelly, Douglas E., eds. (1987).The American Association of Anatomists, 1888-1987: essays on the history of anatomy in America and a report on the membership: past and present. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.ISBN978-0-683-06800-9.
^Ramon Y Cajal, Santiago (2003).Santiago Ramon Y Cajal (1852–2003). La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain.ISBN8495321467.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Fisiología de los sueños : Cajal, Tanguy, Lorca, Dalí... María García Soria, Jaime Brihuega, Universidad de Zaragoza. [Zaragoza]. 2015.ISBN978-84-16515-15-8.OCLC932125022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
^Architecture of life. Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. Berkeley, California. 2016.ISBN978-0-9838813-1-5.OCLC919068285.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
^The beautiful brain : the drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Eric A. Newman, Alfonso Araque, Janet M. Dubinsky, Larry W. Swanson, Lyndel Saunders King, Eric Himmel. New York. 2017.ISBN978-1-4197-2227-1.OCLC938991305.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
^Santiago Ramón y Cajal : 150 años en la Universidad de Zaragoza : Paraninfo Universidad de Zaragoza, del 7 de octubre de 2019 al 11 de enero de 2020. Alberto J. Schuhmacher, José María. Serrano Sanz, María del Valle García Soria. Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, Vicerrectorado de Cultura y Proyección Social. 2019.ISBN978-84-17873-98-1.OCLC1138073534.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Santiago Ramón y Cajal, "Texture of the Nervous System of Man and the Vertebrates, Volume 1" Originally published by Springer-Verlag Wien New York in 1999
Mazzarello, Paolo (2010).Golgi: A Biography of the Founder of Modern Neuroscience. Translated by Aldo Badiani and Henry A. Buchtel. New York:Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-533784-6.
Wilkinson, Alec, "Illuminating the Brain's 'Utter Darkness'" (review ofBenjamin Ehrlich,The Brain in Search of Itself: Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Story of the Neuron, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023, 447 pp.; andTimothy J. Jorgensen,Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life, Princeton University Press, 2021, 436 pp.),The New York Review of Books, vol. LXX, no. 2 (February 9, 2023), pp. 32, 34–35.
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