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There was a time in humankind where the brain wasn't held at the utmost importance it is now. When going through the process of mummification, the Ancient Egyptians would take out the brain and throw it away while keeping the other internal organs¹. With a plethora of information easily accessible to the general public, we now know that the brain is one of the body's most important and sensitive organs. Let's take a stroll back in time and observe the history of events leading up to one of the foundational documents of neuroscience: The Neuron Doctrine.

Ancient Egyptians are one of the oldest known civilizations to have studied the brain, providing new information studied by scientists later in time. Specifically, the Ancient Egyptians provided the world with some of the first written accounts of the anatomy of the brain: meninges and cerebrospinal fluid¹. In particular, the Edwin Smith Papyrus contains 48 surgical cases that mention these parts of the brain. The Edwin Smith Papyrus was around 5 metres long when first written by the Ancient Egyptians, but half a meter of the document has since gone missing¹.

Sources:
1) https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/papy.html

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Alcmaeon of Croton and his Masterful Dissections 

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Alcmaeon of Croton and his Masterful Dissections 

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As the Ancient Egyptians took an interest in the brain, Alcmaeon of Croton did, too. Alcmaeon of Croton is a Greek medical writer and scientist who thought like no other scholar of his time (500 BC), making some very important discoveries in neuroscience.

Alcmaeon of Croton was affiliated with Magna Graecia, which was one of the most famous and reputable medical schools during this era¹. Croton was seen as a talented scientist who was masterful in his use of vivisection: the dissection of live animals. Through the use of vivisection, Croton was able to state that the optic nerve is necessary for vision². This finding is still valid to this day and interested philosophers and scientists to find out more about the brain.

Sources:
1) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/alcmaeon/
2) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alcmaeon-Greek-philosopher-and-physiologist

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Albrecht Von Haller is a Swiss physician and researcher who was always regarded as a credible individual by his peers. Haller began his studies in medicine at the age of 15, finishing when he was 19. However after finishing medical school and starting to practice medicine, Haller did not perform well. Haller switched from a practicing physician to a medical researcher at the University of Gottingen located in Germany¹.

Haller performed many experiments at the University of Gottingen, making an important discovery in the year of 1747. After many trials of experiments, Haller observed that the liquid surrounding the brain would secrete into the ventricles, which were then absorbed by the veins. Haller provided this important detail of the brain which intrigued other philosophers¹. As this discovery was made from an external view of the brain, scientists started to become curious of the brain in a more microscopic manner.

Sources:
1) http://www.annclinlabsci.org/content/33/3/334.full

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First Drawing of a Neuron Provided by Otto Dieters 

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Uncovering Parts of the Neuron: Axons and Dendrites

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Uncovering Parts of the Neuron: Axons and Dendrites

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Otto Friedrich Karl Dieters was a talented German neuroanatomist who unfortunately passed away at the age of 29¹. Living a shorter life than expected, Dieters made many incredible discoveries during his lifetime.

One of his most notable was in regards to nerve cells. During Dieter's time, he was able to create one of the most descriptive observations of the nerve cell in his time. Dieter's noted two parts of the cell: the axon and dendrite. Dieter further emphasized that nerve cells have single axons, while having several dendrites². Dieter's started to somewhat speculate that there was some sort of signal flowing through the neurons, which started to become researched by other philosophers interested in neuroscience.

Sources:
1) http://mrcanu.pharm.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/pdf_files
/23316_ftp.pdf
2) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23436306/

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The Golgi Stain was one of the most important experimental techniques created in neuroscience. This stain was innovated by Camillo Golgi, an Italian biologist and pathologist born in the year of 1843¹.

In Golgi's time there was a limited option of staining techniques available, with carmine staining being the most prominent. However, the quality of carmine staining wasn't the best. Neuroscientists were able to see the neurons under the microscope, but clear distinctions were difficult to identify². Golgi started to experiment with different elements such as gold and mercury. With minimal success, Golgi then tried exposing the nerve cells using silver nitrate¹. The utilization of silver nitrate allowed Golgi to see the neuron in its entirety, which was quite significant to the field of neuroscience.

Sources:
1) https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1906/golgi/bi
ographical/
2) https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/carmine

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Franz Nissl and the Development of the Nissl Stain 

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Franz Nissl and the Development of the Nissl Stain 

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Franz Alexander Nissl was a German medical researcher and psychiatrist born on September 9th of 1860. Nissl's father had always wished for his son to become a priest, but Nissl himself saw a different future in mind for himself. Nissl was passionate about medicine and decided to attend Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich specializing in psychiatry¹.

Nissl was a motivated researcher and quite competitive. The medical faculty at Ludwig Maximilian University created a competition in the field of neuroscience for researchers to win a grand prize in the year of 1864. Nissl proceeded to win this competition in 1865 due to his innovative stain allowing different parts of the neuron to be visible². Nissl first took the cerebrum and fixed the organ in alcohol while simultaneously adding varying pigments. With this technique, Nissl was able to identify the endoplasmic reticulum of a nerve cell². This then allowed later scientists to differentiate between neurons and glia, while also revealing another piece of information regarding the structure of the neuron.

Sources:
1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6753910/
2) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/340200

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Proposing a New Look of the Nervous System

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Proposing a New Look of the Nervous System

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As stated, in the year of 1873, Camillo Golgi created the revolutionary staining technique utilizing silver nitrate. Other scientists were fascinated with this technique and carried out the Golgi Stain for many different experiments relating to the field of neuroscience.

A scientist by the name of Santiago Ramón y Cajal took interest in the Golgi stain and worked on improving the technique. Cajal was known for his artsiness, drawing many of his observations through a microscope¹. In the year of 1889, Cajal presented some of his work to the Congress of German Anatomical Society at the University of Berlin. In this meeting, Cajal proposed that there was no direct connection between each nerve cell, drawing his Golgi stain observations¹.

Sources:
1) https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/memory-and-the-brain-the-key-discovery-of-santiago-ramon-y-cajal/

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Weigert Revealing Another Piece of the Puzzle 

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Weigert Revealing Another Piece of the Puzzle 

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Karl Weigert was a German pathologist born in March of 1845. Weigert was an accomplished physician serving as the assistant surgeon in the Franco-Prussian War. After the war, Weigert started to fine-tune his skills and gain knowledge from other scholars of his time such as Heinrich Waldeyer, Hermann Lebert, and Julius Cohnheim¹.

After assisting these great scientists, Weigert was offered a position to become director of a pathological-anatomical institute of the Senckenberg Foundation in Frankfurt, Germany. During his time at this institute, Weigert conducted many experiments, with one of his most notable experiments being in the field of neurohistology. Weigert provided a manner in which scientists could stain myelin sheaths². With this advantageous discovery, many new experiments in neurohistology started to come about.

Sources:
1) https://litfl.com/carl-weigert/
2) https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/weigert-carl

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A German Anatomist by the name of Willhelm Waldeyer had published what could arguably be one of the most important documents of neuroscience in the year of 1891. Serving as foundational information for the field of neuroscience, the neuron doctrine stated that the nervous system is made up of discrete individual cells. This fact supports the findings of Ramón y Cajal rather than Camillo Golgi. Cajal's outstanding neuroanatomical work could have possibly never been performed if it weren't for the creation of the Golgi Stain. In 1906, both scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for their contributions in understanding the inner workings of the nervous system in greater detail¹.

The neuron doctrine contains many important observations that were made throughout time in the field of neuroscience. To further emphasize, work done by Jan Purkinje, Gabriel Valentin, Wilhelm His, and a few other scientists are included within the neuron doctrine¹. To this day, many experiments are heavily influenced by the neuron doctrine.

Sources:
1) https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/neuroscience/neuron-doctrine

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Camillo Golgi and Ramón y Cajal were two very talented researchers. With Golgi's creation of the Golgi stain and Cajal utilizing this stain to do further research in the field of neuroscience. Golgi and Cajal ended up sharing a Nobel Prize in 1906 for their work in revealing the fine details of the nervous system, but had two opposing views on some details¹.

Golgi maintained a reticular view of the nervous system, which was a concept derived from German anatomist Joseph Von Gerlach. The reticular theory stated that the nervous system was one whole continuous network. On the other hand, Cajal believed that each neuron was independent of one another, but established a variety of different connections². Cajal's theory still holds true to this day.

Sources:
1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11624298/
2) https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fncel.2019.00187/full

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Throughout the history of neuroscience, many components of the brain were unknown. The scientists mentioned in this exhibit are only some of the important figures in this field. Each scientist uncovered a piece of the puzzle, identifying a new part of the neuron and eventually understanding the connections between these neurons.

Scientists today have taken an important step to understanding the brain even more. With innovative technology, scientists have been able to render 3-D models of the cerebrum. For example, a neuroscientist by the name of Tony Zador was able to map out 50,000 neurons in the cerebral cortex of a mouse using brain mapping technology. Within the mapping of the brain, the cell bodies and axon branches of the neurons are able to be seen distinctly, too¹. With the creation of this technology, the opportunities of research in the field of neuroscience can be expanded upon exponentially.

Sources:
1) https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-brain-maps-with-unmatched-detail-may-change-neuroscience-20180404/

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Santiago Ramón y Cajal was an exceptional neuroscientist, pathologist, and histologist born on May 1st of 1852 in Aragon, Spain. Cajal had always aspired to be an artist which can be seen through his detailed drawings of the nervous system. However, his father was a Professor of Applied Anatomy at the University of Saragossa and encouraged Cajal to study medicine¹.

Cajal attained his license in medicine at the University of Saragossa and proceeded to work as an army surgeon in the year of 1873. After working as a surgeon for the army, Cajal transitioned to medical work in academia. Cajal was appointed as Professor of Histology and Pathological Anatomy at Barcelona in the year of 1887 and in Madrid in the year of 1892¹.

In the 1880's, Cajal started to publish a lot of his scientific work with the most notable publication in the year of 1890: New Ideas on the Fine Anatomy of the Nervous System. In this publication, Cajal came out with his important theory that heavily influenced the neuron doctrine. This theory being that the neurons are not an intertwined continuous network, but rather discrete building blocks that have gaps between one another. In 1906, Ramón y Cajal was awarded the Nobel Prize for his influential work on understanding the nervous system¹.

Cajal later passed away in October of 1934 with many achievements accomplished in his lifetime¹.

Sources:
1) https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1906/cajal/biographical/