Abstract
Santiago Ramón y Cajal came from North Spain and was very talented in painting and
writing. Actually he wanted to become a painter but his father, who was a medical
doctor himself, forced him to study medicine. In the end, he became a famous neuroanatomist,
developed the neuron theory and, together with Camillo Golgi, was awarded the Nobel
Price for medicine in 1906. In his career, he was very much supported by German scientists,
especially by the Würzburg anatomist von Koelliker. He also displayed a lively literary
activity. But most of his works are little known to us. Of his 5 “Cuentos de vacaciones”
(vacation stories) there is a translation into English only since 2001.
Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts wurden verschiedene neue Versilberungstechniken entwickelt,
durch die die neuroanatomische Forschung einen enormen Aufschwung erlebte. Einer der
genialsten Wissenschaftler auf diesem Gebiet war der Spanier Santiago Ramón y Cajal.
Dass er darüber hinaus aber auch ein reichhaltiges literarisches Werk hinterließ,
zu dem auch autobiografische und belletristische Schriften gehören, ist bei uns weitestgehend
unbekannt.
Schlüsselwörter
Cajal - von Koelliker - Neuronenlehre - Nobelpreis - Schrifsteller
Key words
Cajal - von Koelliker - neuron theory - Nobel price - writer
