Ramón y Cajal & Neuroscience Advancements

Santiago Ramón y Cajal's Neuroscience Contributions

• Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a Nobel laureate, used microscopes to investigate the nervous system's structure.
• He determined that the nervous system consists of independent cells that communicate.
• He was a rebellious child with a passion for drawing, who wanted to be an artist.
• His father, a doctor and anatomy teacher, influenced him to pursue medical school which merged his artistic talents with scientific interests in neuroscience.
• Cajal used his savings to acquire a microscope and began studying muscle tissue structure.
• Cajal's work shifted to histology after receiving a more modern microscope in 1885.
• Optical lens advances and improved staining techniques enhanced microscope capabilities.
• Cajal modified Golgi's tissue staining technique in 1888 to illuminate human brain tissue.
• Cajal showed in 1888 that nerve cells are separate units, disproving the continuous web theory.
• He published the first volume of his book on the nervous system's structure in 1899.
• Cajal and Golgi jointly received the Nobel Prize in 1906 for their work on the nervous system's structure.
• He spent up to 15 hours daily recording observations and produced over 2,900 drawings.
• Spain’s Cajal Institute holds 30,218 "Cajal Legacy" items.
• Golgi's staining method was a career changing moment for Cajal leading him to improve it until it allowed the full visibility of nerve cells.
• Cajal created detailed illustrations of stained cells using his microscope.
• The brain and nervous system comprise billions of individual nerve cells that communicate via synapses.
• Cajal's observations opposed the reticular theory, which claimed nerve fibers were fused.
• In 1891, Wilhelm Waldeyer coined "neuron" and supported the "neuron doctrine" stating that the nervous system's basic units are discrete cells (neurons).
• By the late 19th century, the neuron doctrine replaced reticular theory.
• Electron microscope images in the 1950s confirmed the existence of synapses, supporting the neuron doctrine.
• Cajal and Golgi received the Nobel Prize in 1906 for nervous system studies, yet Golgi still believed nerve cells were physically connected.
• Camillo Golgi invented a tissue-staining technique using silver nitrate in 1873.
• Cajal used pen and ink to reproduce the brain and nervous system's structure with photographic precision.

Max Planck and Quantum Theory

• Max Planck's quantum theory refuted classical physics by stating that energy is emitted in fixed packets, called "quanta."
• Planck altered how scientists interpreted the subatomic world.
• Max Planck showed an aptitude for mechanics, mathematics, and music, and chose to study physics after one tutor sparked his interest.
• He received a doctoral degree at 21.
• In the 1890s, physicists were struggling to explain the absorption and emission of light, specifically "black body" radiation.
• Gustav Kirchhoff in 1859 defined a black body as one that absorbs all electromagnetic radiation.
• When heated, a black body radiates energy in electromagnetic waves, including visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light.
• Classical thermodynamics theories failed to accurately predict wavelengths radiated by hot objects.
• Planck began trying to match theory with observation in 1894.
• From 1885 to 1889, he advanced his study of heat theory.
• He investigated black body radiation and the vibration frequencies of atoms during the 1890s.
• Max Planck presented his radiation distribution law in 1900, introducing energy quanta.
• Planck was one of the first physicists to support Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.
• Planck received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919 for discovering energy quanta.
• Planck investigated how the intensity of electromagnetic radiation from a black body depended on the body’s temperature and the frequency of the radiation.
• Physicists believed atoms could oscillate continuously at any frequency.
• Planck noted atoms could only vibrate at frequencies that were whole-number multiples of a base frequency, named "h."
• He calculated the value of h, now called Planck’s constant, with the same numerical value everywhere in the Universe.
• Contrary to classical physics, photons emit energy in measured amounts, or packets, called "quanta."
• A quantum is the smallest possible energy packet.
• Planck's radiation law explained the relationship between an object’s temperature and emitted energy.
• The energy (E) in a photon equals its electromagnetic radiation frequency (v) multiplied by Planck’s constant (h) as expressed in the equation E = hv.
• Planck presented his theory of light as "quantized" energy packets to the German Physical Society in 1900 overturning all past theories of light.
• Planck’s constant (h) allowed scientists to devise a new set of physical units like the Planck length, the smallest unit of measurement possible: 1.6 x 10-3 meters.
• The Planck time is the smallest measurable unit of time: 5 x 10-43 seconds.
• Planck’s theory paved the way for modern technologies like solar power.
• Paul Dirac's Dirac equation predicted antimatter particles, like the positron.
• As a postgraduate student, Dirac created quantum field theory.

Nettie Stevens and Sex Determination

• Nettie Stevens discovered that an animal’s sex is determined by chromosomes.
• Nettie Stevens graduated from Stanford University with a masters in biology in 1900, before earning a doctorate at Bryn Mawr College in 1903.
• Scientists believed biological sex was determined by external factors.
• Stevens's mealworm study ended the debate.
• Male reproductive cells included X and Y chromosomes, but females produced only Xs.
• The sex of an organism is determined by chromosomes it inherits from each parent, published in 1905.
• Her research linked a physical characteristic to a particular chromosome.
• Stevens's discovery was not widely acknowledged until after her death.
• Stevens rejected an offer to be research professor at Bryn Mawr due to ill health and died soon after in 1912.
• Stevens carried out work studying reproductive cells, providing key data to support chromosomal inheritance theory.

George Washington Carver's Agricultural Innovations

• George Washington Carver helped restore the southern US economy through soil improvement and crop cultivation.
• He developed commercially viable products from alternative crops.
• Carver earned a master’s degree in agriculture in 1896 and became the director of agriculture at the Tuskegee Institute.
• The exclusive cotton cultivation had depleted the soil and Carver encouraged farmers to grow peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans instead.
• From 1900 to 1920, Carver invented 287 peanut products and 118 sweet potato products.
• Carver's work created over 400 marketable products, such as oils and dyes, which boosted financial yields of the South.
• He spoke for peanut farmers before the US House of Representatives in 1921 and received a standing ovation.
• He received multiple honors, including the Spingarn Medal in 1923, recognizing outstanding achievement.
• Carver oversaw the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee Institute for 47 years.

Thomas Hunt Morgan and Genetics

• Thomas Hunt Morgan won a Nobel Prize for his work on heredity.
• Following Gregor Mendel's work, Morgan confirmed the role of chromosomes.
• He laid the foundations for the modern field of genetics.
• Morgan was naturally critical, and favored controlled laboratory experiments.
• Fruit flies were ideal specimens because of their traits, small number of chromosomes, and reproduction capabilities.
• Morgan bred millions of fruit flies in his "Fly Room" laboratory.
• All offspring had red eyes, indicating red was dominant when a white-eyed male fly was bred with a red-eyed female.
• A quarter of second-generation offspring had white eyes, and every white-eyed fly was male.
• The white-eyed trait was linked to the fly's sex.
• He concluded traits must be inherited together from the chromosome responsible for sex determination.
• Additional study revealed genes occupy a specific location on a chromosome.
• Morgan confirmed the chromosomal theory of inheritance and acknowledged Mendel’s work.
• Morgan marked a turning point in the study of inheritance and launched the field of genetics by extending Mendel’s work and applying it to animals.

Marie Curie's Radioactivity Research

• Marie Curie discovered polonium and radium and laid the groundwork for radiotherapy.
• Marie Curie studied in secret while working as a governess.
• Curie began research on Becquerel's discovery of radioactivity and Pierre joined her.
• Identified polonium (named after Poland) & radium in uranium ore in 1898.
• The Curies with Becquerel were awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.
• Curie took over her husband’s professorship of physics at the Sorbonne.
• She isolated pure radium in 1910.
• She won a second Nobel Prize in 1911 for chemistry.
• Curie coined the term "radioactivity" to describe energy released when atoms disintegrate.
• During World War 1, Curie funded 20 mobile X-ray units and drove one of the trucks herself.
• Curie helped set up the Curie Foundation now the Institut Curie, pioneering cancer treatment research.
• She died of aplastic anemia due to radiation exposure.
• Henri Becquerel was the first to discover natural radioactivity in 1896 with uranium.

Ernest Rutherford and Atomic Structure

• Ernest Rutherford identified the components of the atom and revealed its structure.
• He studied radiation emitted by uranium and discovered types, alpha & beta radiation.
• He proposed that atoms disintegrate and radiation is a by-product of the process.
• He proposed that the rate at which materials disintegrate is their half-lives.
• In 1911, Rutherford published his atom model, likening it to a miniature solar system: empty space, electrons orbiting a tiny nucleus.
• Rutherford became Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge University in 1919.
• If nitrogen and other light elements are bombarded with alpha particles, they emit hydrogen nuclei.
• Rutherford found the presence of a positive charge in the simplest element, he then named the atom's nucleus a proton.
• The neutron was identified in 1932, by James Chadwick at the Cavendish Laboratory, under Rutherford’s guidance.

António Egas Moniz and Brain Imaging

• António Egas Moniz invented the angiogram and developed the frontal lobotomy.
• Moniz invented X-ray for checking blood vessels, angiogram, in 1927.
• The angiogram technique was used to identify blocked arteries until CT imaging in 1975.
• Moniz was a pioneer in psychosurgery.
• He thought certain mental states, such as obsession and depression, could be eradicated by operating on the frontal lobes: lobotomies (leucotomies).
• A third of patients benefited from surgery, and others experienced serious harm.
• 1949, he received Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for inventing prefrontal lobotomy.

Lise Meitner and Nuclear Fission

• Lise Meitner coined the term "nuclear fission" and explained the science behind splitting uranium atoms.
• 1939, Along with nephew Otto Frisch, publishes theory of nuclear fission in Nature
• Lise Meitner passed an entrance exam and became one of the first women to attend University of Vienna’s physics course.
• A PhD was received in physics after being tutored by Ludwig Boltzmann, becoming the second woman to do so at that university.
• A position as a researcher was taken at Nobel Institute in Stockholm.
• Following the experiment Hanh performed with Uranium, Meitner used information to explain that mass was not lost but converted, creating an enormous amount of energy.

Albert Einstein's Relativity Theories

• Albert Einstein developed the general and special theories of relativity.
• He transformed the concepts of space, time, and gravity.
• His ideas paved the way for nuclear energy and solar power.
• 1905, Wrote four scientific papers bringing attention from academics around the world.
• 1915, While a professor University of Berlin, publishes ‘General Theory of Relativity’
• 1921, Awarded Nobel Prize
• 1933, Emigrates to the US
• 1955, Signs the Russell-Einstein Manifesto
• Made quantum theories, showed Brownian motion, and motion of objects using the speed of light.
• The paper outlined the special theory of relativity, explaining the relative motion of objects moving at constant velocity.
• Time does not run at a single speed.
• 1905, Fourth paper of special relativity
• This paper proved that mass and energy are relative
• This led to the formula: E = mc2
• Used in nuclear power, atomic nuclei are broken apart and loose mass but releasing large amount of energy
• 1915, in the general theory of relativity
• Time slows down in intense gravitational fields, causing time, matter, and light to bend as they pass close to very massive objects.
• Predictions were put to test
• 1919, physicists observing a total solar eclipse, discovered to be out of place
• German physicist S.N. Bose, behaviour of photons-particles of light, send to Einstein, and he published the paper in 1924 - Einstein proposed fifth state of matter, solid,liquid,gas, and plasma- “bosons”
• Scientist made BEC particles in 1995

Alfred Wegener and Continental Drift

• Alfred Wegener proposed the theory of continental drift.
• Wegener's ideas were not accepted until long after his death.
• Wegener received the job meteorologist of Greenland expedition, building the first meteorological station there.
• It was noticed on return from Greenland the continents western Africa and eastern South America mirrored.
• All of Earth continents had once been linked.
• Continents had been separated by the biblical Flood or by land bridges that sunk into the sea.
• Fossils, same spices and rock were searched from the different scientific fields.
• the same ancient rock formations on the African and South American coasts
• 1912, Wegener presented and continents drift.
• Continental drift was the single land mass and was known as “Pangea"
• Wegener made expeditions to Greenland to find more evidence.
• Last Greenland expedidition overexertion death in 1930.
• 16,000km mile, Earth curst tectonic plates , Move
• Mid- Atlantic ridge identified

Marie Tharp

• Geologist and cartographer who charted the ocean floor - her maps identified the mid-Atlantic rift, evidence for the theory of continental drift
• Encouraged to enroll in war due to WWII
• Learned to draw
• 1953, made a discovery of a 9941-mile ridge in the middle of the Atlantic

Dirctory - Scientist

• The linked between science and progress
• New discoveries abonded at rules were rewritten
• 1845-1923.Wilhem Conrad Rontgen- XRAY
• 1849-1936. Ivan Parlou-Military and Medical Academy- Digestive tracks
• 1853-1931-Kitasato Shibasaburo-Serum therapy, tetanus and diphtheria - serum that contained
• Jules Henri Poincore- Chaos
• 1856-1940- JJ Thomson- structure of Atoms, and the plum pudding model
• 1859 - 1927- Svante Arrhenius- Volcanic Irruptions and the green house effect
• Annie Jump cannon- 20th century’s lead authority for spectre
• Harriet Brooks -Canada, 1901, the first female Nuculas
• Ramanujan- invited to Cambridge 1913 (1887-1920)

Francis Crick DNA

• Frederick Sanger who sequenced the components of the three fundamental polymers of life: proteins, RNA, and DNA
• Studied
• 1918( UK doctor and rural practices. - 1936 began self funding - 1943 - 1949 Cavendish - 1953 One of the science greatest mysteries - 1955 - 1972 -1975 -2001 = I has 20 years when
• 1916 - 2004 Nobel Prize biophysicist

James Watson DNA

• US geneticist and biophysicist
• James Watson - the double helix structure of DNA.- genetic code
• Watson moved to California briefly before returning to the Cavendish to work with. -10 days fruit -15 age watston
• Sydney beener - see the Watson and Crick DNA model

Rosalind Franklin - DNA

• 1920 - 1958
• Franklin studied X-ray crystallography
• April 1953 Double hellix with the molecular DNA

Richard freynaman

Feynman

• Is a teacher to quantum theory
• Used showman to communicate -1918-1988, lithuation Jewish -1986 Nasa accident
• Mureay Galinan in 1964 proposed model for particle - Fermions - building blocks - Bosons - forecarriers
• 1920 Henry Stemal- Yalc uni, ,2 more .Woeh

Yang Chen-Ning

• Chinese born theorycal psysists - Revoilized the field. Particle physics -Ground background and atomic - Nobel prize and physic
• 1924 - 2010, Benoit MandelBroth, polish-born French - P hd in math - Fractal gemometry. In 1958. At IMB

Ernest Macholach

• Stem sell research
• Canadian . .Hamelogical
• He recognized to be something new - 1926-2011 -2010. Inducted Canada
• James till 1931 physicist - 1969. Fellowship -2005. Albt Lasker with Mcollach. Mcolla.

Explore counterfactual scenarios impacting neuroscience without Ramón y Cajal. Understand validation pitfalls for neuron doctrine using modern techniques. Examine tensions in Cajal's methods with early microscopy and his view on modern advancements for neural circuitry.