Santiago Ramón y Cajal

"'Hispania lacks the guidance of science and is therefore as a fool whose talents are irrelevant for mere disuse, but the impetus of our race is not so easily extinguished. We may suffer prostrations, as other peoples have suffered, but from our current lethargy we will arise, when once again we are led by some genial thaumaturge with the virile strength and wisdom to galvanise our people's bewildered hearts, orienting our wills toward a common goal; the peace, progress and prosperity of old Hispania.' Dr. Santiago Ramón y Cajal" Captain Santiago Ramón y Cajal, M.D. (1, May, 1852 - 17, October, 1934) was a Spanish author, gymnast, neurologist, painter, pathologist, physician, professor, soldier and veteran of the First Spanish Civil War. During his career, Ramon Cajal served as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Valencia, first President of the Junta for Extended Studies, first Director of the Cajal Institute for Biological Research and first Director of the National Institute for Hygiene. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1906 for his analysis of the anatomy of the human brain and central nervous system.

Ramon Cajal's laboratory conducted research on inflammation pathology, cholera microbiology, and the structure of epithelial cells, discovered the axonal growth cones of nerve cells and gastrointestinal interstitial cells, evinced the validity of Heinrich Waldeyer's neuron theory and performed a microscopic analysis of the central nervous system.

Ramon Cajal personally authored more than a hundred articles on histology and the human anatomy, demonstrated the contiguous relationship between nerve cells, discovered the existence of axonal growth cones of nerve cells and gastrointestinal interstitial cells, fought alongside royal Spanish forces during the First Spanish Civil War, founded the Cajal Institute of Biological Research, hosted lectures at the the University of Barcelona, University of Zaragoza, the University of Valencia and the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences in Madrid and illustrated the first detailed diagrams of the brain.