Nerve Endings: The Discovery of the Synapse.

NERVE ENDINGS: The Discovery of the Synapse RICHARD RAPPORT

Camillo Golgi is probably the only person to win a Nobel prize for something he didn't believe in. While it was Santiago Ramon y Cajal who discovered that nerve cells have identifiable gaps, or synapses, between them, it was Golgi who came up with a way to stain neurons so that their behavior could be studied. This is the story of these two men, who shared the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and whose research ultimately made possible modern neuroscience. Golgi, a pioneer in the study of the nervous system, supported what was called the network theory. It held that all neurons in the brain were joined in a seamless web. Long before the Nobel ceremony, the observations of Cajal and others had disproved the network theory. Nevertheless, Golgi defended it stubbornly in his acceptance speech. Cajal had imaged synapses by refining Golgi's staining technique. His insight probably occurred because he was trained outside of the scientific mainstream and medical establishment of the day. This book is about an important discovery in brain science as well as the nature of genius and creativity. W. W. Norton & Company, 2005, 240 p., b&w illus., hardcover, $23.95.