John Newport Langley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1852-11-02)2 November 1852 Newbury, England |
| Died | 5 November 1925(1925-11-05) (aged 73) Cambridge, England |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge |
| Known for | Autonomic nervous system Secretion |
| Awards | Royal Medal (1892) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physiologist |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Academic advisors | Michael Foster |
| Notable students | Walter Morley Fletcher Charles Sherrington Leon Orbeli |
| Notes | |
John Newport LangleyFRS (2 November 1852 – 5 November 1925) was a Britishphysiologist, who made substantive discoveries about thenervous system andsecretion.
He was born inNewbury, Berkshire the son of John Langley, the local schoolmaster, and his wife, Mary Groom. He was educated atExeter Grammar School inDevon. In 1871 he won a place atSt John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA before continuing multiple postgraduate studies, gaining several doctorates.
He spent his entire career atCambridge University, beginning as a Demonstrator in lectures in 1875. He began lecturing in Physiology in 1884 and was awarded a professorship in 1903, succeeding ProfessorMichael Foster.[1]
He was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1883 and later its vice-president. He was made an Honorary Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh in 1916.[2]
Langley is known as one of the fathers of thechemical receptor theory, and as the origin of the concept of "receptive substance".[3][4]
In 1901, he advanced research inneurotransmitters and chemical receptors, working with extracts from adrenal glands. These extracts elicited responses in tissues that were similar to those induced by nerve stimulation.[5]
He coined the term "autonomic nervous system" (ANS) in 1898.[6]
He was the first person who put forward the concept ofparasympathetic nervous system as a division of the ANS in 1921.[7]
He died inCambridge on 5 November 1925, aged 73.
A brass plaque to Langley's memory exists in Trinity College Chapel at Cambridge University.[8]
Langley married at St. Mary′s church, Montrose, on 10 September 1902 Vera Kathleen Forsythe-Grant (d.1932), third daughter of Frederick Grant Forsyth-Grant, ofEcclesgreig,Kincardineshire.[9]
