Joseph M. McKEDDIE
Independent Scholar, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.  JsMcKedd AT aol.com

For their research concerning the structure of the nervous system, Camillo Golgi (1843-1926) and Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934) were jointly awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Today, one-hundred years later, the Royal Carolinian Institute of Stockholm has awarded more Nobel Prizes for experimental brain research than any other field of medicine. This paper, a centennial commemoration of this achievement, invites the reader to embark on a journey into the discoveries that have defined twentieth-century neuroscience. From the controversial histology of Golgi and Cajal to the fascinating neuropsychology of Roger Sperry (1913-1994) and beyond, the period 1906-2005 has been one of increasing diversity and growth for the neurosciences as we celebrate in retrospect what may truly be defined as "the century of the brain".

References:

• http://nobelprize.org/medicine/
• Jasper, H. H. and Sourkes, T. L. (1983). Nobel laureates in neuroscience: 1904-1981. Annual Review of Neuroscience. 6, 1-42.
• Nobel Foundation. (1972). Nobel lectures, physiology or medicine, 1901-1970. Amsterdam: Elsevier. 4 vols.

Pavia, Italy, 2006