Robert Remak (1815-1865)

Robert Remak was a Jewish scientist whose research in neurology significantly progressed the understanding of the structure of the nervous system.

Remak was born in Posen, Prussian Poland. He completed his medical training at Berlin University while conducting his own research in the laboratory of scientist Johannes Müller (Grzybowski & Pietrzak, 2012). Remak’s research focused on the nervous system, more specifically nerve fibres. In his thesis, defended in 1838, Remak was the first to describe unmyelinated nerve fibres, now called Remak’s fibres.* Further, Remak reported that “these fibres formed bundles (Remak bundles) and that nerve cells and ganglions are connected” (Chvátal, 2015, p. 337). These findings provided the foundation for the later definition of a neuron as a cell body and an axon. Apart from neurology research, Remak made great discoveries in the field of embryology, including the finding that cells divide to create new cells** (Grzybowski & Pietrzak, 2012).

Although Remak’s contributions to the field were great, his professional career was severely hindered because he was Jewish. After completion of his thesis, Remak continued his research in Müller’s laboratory with the hopes of one day attaining a university professorship. Although Prussian universities accepted Jewish students, Jewish scholars were prevented from attaining positions in academic careers in Prussia until the second half of the 1800s (Otis, 2007). Therefore, Remak was ceaselessly denied a position as a professor in Prussia. He was instead granted the position of an unpaid lecturer, making him the first Jewish teacher on Berlin’s medical faculty in 1847 (Grzybowski & Pietrzak, 2012; Otis, 2007). Remak’s medical training and the subject matter of his research made him a potential candidate for the position of associate professor of physiology at the University of Königsberg, however, because he was Jewish he was overlooked for the position, which ultimately went to Hermann von Helmholtz (Cahan, 2006).

Despite the difficulties he faced in his career due to his religion, Remak made remarkable contributions to the fields of physiology, embryology, and neurology. This great scientist deserves recognition for laying the foundations for the field of neuroscience.

References

Cahan, D. (2006). The “Imperial Chancellor of the Sciences”: Helmholtz between science and politics. Social Research, 73, 1093–1128. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40971877?seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents

Chvátal, A. (2015). Discovering the structure of nerve tissue: Part 2: Gabriel Valentin, Robert Remak, and Jan Evangelista Purkyně. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 24, 326–351. https://doi.org/10.1080/0964704X.2014.977677

Grzybowski, A., & Pietrzak, K. (2012). Robert Remak (1815–1865). Journal of Neurology, 260, 1696–1697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-012-6761-6

Otis, L. (2007). Banned from the Academy: The mentoring of Robert Remak. Müller’s Lab. Oxford University Press.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Robert Remak. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Remak

Further Readings

*Remak, R. (1838). Observationes anatomicae et microscopicae de systematis nervosi structura: dissertatio inauguralis... Reimer.

**Remak, R. (1855). Untersuchungen über die Entwicklung der Wirbelthiere. Reimer.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934)

Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a Spanish physician and neuroanatomist whose discoveries led to his recognition as the father of modern neuroscience.

Born in a small town in northeastern Spain, Cajal was a willful and misbehaving child who had wished to become an artist (Andres-Barquin, 2002). However, his father, who was a physician, attracted Cajal’s interest in anatomy and convinced him to enroll in medical school. Thus, he began medical training at the University of Zaragoza, graduating in 1873. Following his graduation, Cajal joined the Spanish Army Medical Service, serving in Cuba in 1874. He returned to Spain the following year and began studying for his doctorate in Madrid, whilst working as an assistant in anatomy at the University of Zaragoza. In 1877, he completed his doctoral degree and was appointed Assistant Professor of Anatomy at the Zaragoza Faculty of Medicine. At this time, he purchased a personal microscope and set up a laboratory in his home to conduct his research, and began publishing his scientific work. In the years that followed, Cajal held the positions of director of the anatomical museum at the University of Zaragoza, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Valencia, and Professor of Histology and Pathology at the University of Barcelona. Just before arriving at the University of Barcelona in 1887, Cajal visited neuropsychiatrist Luis Simarro Lacabra in Madrid, who introduced to him the Golgi method—a silver staining technique used to view nervous tissue under a microscope. With this new procedure, he began conducting a surge of research, investigating various brain regions in animals, and drawing the structures he found. It was this research that prompted the discoveries of the “neuron doctrine” in 1888 and the law of dynamic polarization in 1889 (fully developed in 1891).

The “neuron doctrine”, as it would later be termed, asserts that the nervous system is made up of discrete, independent cells that transmit impulses by means of contact, as opposed to the idea that the nervous system was a continuous network of fibres* (Andres-Barquin, 2002). The law of dynamic polarization (or the law of functional or axipetal polarization) states that electrical activity is conducted from the dendrites toward the axon, and the axon transmits this activity toward its terminals. These discoveries revolutionized the understanding of the nervous system and comprise the foundation of modern neuroscience. In 1889, Cajal went to Berlin to present his work at an international congress, and since he could only speak a little French, he set up his microscopes and slides for the attendees to view the findings for themselves (Wickens, 2019). Thus, Cajal was able to demonstrate his remarkable observations, which became widely accepted in the neuroanatomy community. However, there were still opponents to the conceptualization of neurons as independent units, including Camillo Golgi, inventor of the Golgi method. In 1906, both Cajal and Golgi were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their contributions to the understanding of neural structures (Andres-Barquin, 2002).

Despite Cajal’s insurmountable accomplishments by this point in his career, he continued to contribute significantly to the field of neuroanatomy. In 1892, he became the Chair of Histology and Pathology at the University of Madrid, and in 1894, spoke at the Royal Society’s annual Croonian lecture in London (De Carlos & Molnár, 2020). While in London, Cajal stayed with neurophysiologist Charles Scott Sherrington, who went on to coin the term “synapse” in 1897 to describe the relation of neurons by contact, as conceptualized by Cajal in 1888 (Andres-Barquin, 2002). Throughout his career, Cajal served as director of the [National Institute of Hygiene], the [Laboratory of Biological Research], and the [Cajal Institute]. Moreover, he served as the president of the [Board for Advanced Scientific Studies and Research], and established the eminent Spanish school of neurology in Madrid. He published several influential texts, such as [Histology of the Nervous System of Man and Vertebrates] in 1904, which included nearly 900 drawings of various brain structures. Cajal retired from the University of Madrid in 1922, however, he continued writing for the remainder of his life and even wrote several nonscientific books as well (Wickens, 2019). Cajal was highly regarded by the scientific community, as well as the Spanish authorities, who bestowed him a life senator’s role in Madrid.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a brilliant researcher, an adept writer, a revered teacher, and a talented artist. His Cajal’s contributions to the understanding of the nervous system make him one of the most influential scientists in the history of neuroscience.

*In 1891, Wilhelm Waldeyer coined the term “neuron” to refer to nerve cells and the term “neuron doctrine” to refer to the concept discovered by Cajal (and later supported by other scientists).

References

Andres-Barquin, P. J. (2002). Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Spanish school of neurology. The Lancet Neurology, 1, 445–452. doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(02)00192-8

De Carlos, J., & Molnár, Z. (2020). Cajal’s interactions with Sherrington and the Croonian Lecture. The Anatomical Record, 303, 1181–1188. https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.24189

Wickens, A. P. (2019). Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934). Key thinkers in neuroscience (pp. 1–7). Routledge. https://doi-org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/10.4324/9781351271042

Rita Levi-Mantalcini (1909-2012) (**SC)

Written by: Taryn Simon

Rita Levi-Mantalcini was born in early 20th-century, pre-fascist Italy. She attended medical school at the University of Turn, despite her family’s concerns that such a career choice was not feminine and would disrupt her role as a wife and mother (Bradshaw, 2013). During this time she became interested in the nervous system and began researching its development. In 1936, Mussolini passed the Race Laws that banned Jews and other non-Aryans from academic and professional careers, resulting in Levi-Montalcini losing her job (Bradshaw, 2013). In 1940 the Nazis invaded Italy, and Levi-Montacini and her family went into hiding. During this period she continued conducting research in her bedroom, where she used sewing needles, scissors and a watchmaker’s forceps to dissect chicken embryos to study the growth of nerve fibres (Bradshaw, 2013). Rita is quoted thanking Mussolini for his persecution, as it led to her discoveries while in hiding (Rita Levi-Mantalcini, n.d.). Towards the end of the war, she worked as a doctor in a refugee camp. Later on, inspired by her research, she went on to study neuroembryology.

In 1986 Levi-Montalcini won The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of nerve growth factors, which were foundational in understanding cancer, wound healing, and various other neurological disorders and medical conditions (Rita Levi-Mantalcini Facts, n.d.).  Her contributions later in life consisted of becoming a senator in Italy and being the deciding vote that forced the Italian parliament to refrain from cutting funding for scientific research  (Rita Levi-Mantalcini, n.d.).

References

The nobel prize: Women who changed science: Rita levi-montalcini. The official website of the Nobel Prize – NobelPrize.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/rita-levi-montalcini

The nobel prize in physiology or medicine 1986. (n.d.). The official website of the Nobel Prize – NobelPrize.org. Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1986/levi-montalcini/facts/

Bradshaw, R. Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909–2012). Nature 493, 306 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/493306a