Archives of Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Spanish Neurohistological School
Documentary heritage submitted by Spain and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2017.
© Instituto Cajal-CSIC, Heirs of Pío del Río-Hortega, Heirs of Fernando de Castro, Heirs of Pedro Ramón y Cajal,Jorge Larriva-Sahd, Pedro Ramon y Cajal drawing
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a Spanish scientist that studied medicine and a professor providing substantial research on the nervous system. The Archives consist of a collection of scientific manuscripts, histological preparations (mainly of the nervous tissue), drawings (scientific and artistic), paintings (anatomical and artistic) photographs (scientific, artistic and portraits), correspondence (letters from and to several national and international scientists, as well as politics, writers, artists, etc.) books (both publications and books from this library, containing Cajal’s comments and remarks) and distinctions and prizes (among which the Nobel prize awarded to Cajal in 1906). These archives are essential to study the history of the discoveries and theories that conduct to the present comprehension of the human brain in its double aspect, anatomical composition (individual cells) and physiological properties (formation of circuits and nerve impulse propagation).