An example of basic science is the work of Nobel Prize winner Ramon Cajal of Madrid, Spain. Applied science is more glamorous because everyone wants to cure a terrible disease. However, chance favors the prepared. A strong knowledge of basic science is needed to make the brilliant discoveries.
Starting in 1901 the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology was awarded by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Unfortunately many brilliant scientists of the 19th century were never recognized because their work was done prior to 1901. Cajal, Golgi, and Pavlov were three of the early winners. All three worked in basic science.
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This photo is from the Swedish website called the Nobel e-Museum. It shows Cajal and his wife in Madrid. Cajal was a brilliant neuroscientist.
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Shown here is a midsagittal section of the brain. The clipart is from the Washington State website, which is mostly in the public domain because it is funded by the taxpayers of Washington state.
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Here is another drawing by Cajal of a section of the cerebellum in which the methylene blue stain was used. Purkinje cells are shown. These cells are named after a brilliant 19th century European scientist. Purkinje never got the Nobel Prize (nor did Darwin) because it had not been started yet. It started in 1901.
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Shown here is Dr. Julius Axelrod, who shared the 1970 Nobel Prize with von Euler of Sweden and Katz of England. Axelrod was honored because of his brilliant work on the enzyme COMT, which degrades dopamine and other similar amines. The clipart is from the Swedish Nobel Prize website.
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Shown here is Jan Evangelista Purkinje, who was born in Czechoslovakia in the 18th century and later moved to Prussia. He died in the 19th century. The Purkinje cells of the cerebellum are named after him.
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This clipart from Neuroscience for Kids shows an example of applied science, also called clinical science in this case. It shows symptoms of autism, a childhood mental disorder. Neuroscience for Kids was produced by the faculty of Washington State University.
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Shown here are Golgi (left) and Cajal, who shared the Nobel Prize in 1906. Golgi had been nominated in 1901 but didn't win in that year. The Swedish website was the source of this clipart. The Swedes choose the winners. Both scientists explored the brain on a microscopic level, particularly Cajal. Later on Linus Pauling thought that diseases should be attacked on a molecular level. Pauling was probably correct, but both approaches are valid and useful. The microscopic level can tell one what is going on at a molecular level to some extent.
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Shown here is a drawing by Cajal of the cerebellum using the Golgi impregnation. The letter A signifies a Purkinje cell.
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In 1954 Linus Carl Pauling won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. At that time he was a professor at California Institute of Technology. Later he moved to Stanford. The photo is from the Swedish website.
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Shown here is Dr. Greengard of New York who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Medicine. The photo is from the Swedish Nobel Prize website, which is one of my favorites.
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