Santiago Ramón y Cajal

, (1852-1934), Spain, Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, 1906. Santiago Ramón y Cajal was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the structure of the nervous system. His major contributions were in adapting Golgi's silver nitrate staining techniques to thick sections of embryonic material, in formulating theories of nervous system structure and nerve impulse transmission, and in explaining the areas of traumatic degeneration and regeneration of nervous structures. He was also a notable author and Spanish statesman, always concerned about the status of Spain and the Spanish language.