One of the most unusual and beautiful exhibitions of the season is at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University. It features 80 drawings by Santiago Ramón y Cajal. The small notebook renderings are considered among the world’s greatest scientific illustrations and together, they depict the brain. Cajal is known as the father of modern neuroscience and is as important to that field as Charles Darwin is to ecology and botany. During the 19th century, Cajal discovered the way neurons, spinal column and nervous system all communicate with each other. His theory was not immediately accepted, but was then proven in 1950. The theory said that neurons are always in touch without actually touching, but instead communicate across gaps known as synaptic clefts. Cajal said that through a chemical and electrical transmission, the single-stemmed axon of one neuron talks to the root-like dendrite of another, according to The New York Times. This process became known as the Neuron Doctrine and it earned Cajal the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Though he used the most powerful microscope he could find, his other main tool was drawing. He was very talented and drew freehand what he saw through the lens.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
