As far back as Leonardo da Vinci, artists have propelled our understanding of anatomy.
One artist named Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) contributed to our conception of the neurons of the brain with his exquisite drawings.
Before his time, anatomists believed that neurons were like a network of connected pipes and tubules that conveyed liquids throughout the brain.
But Ramón y Cajal believed neurons were separate, individual structures and that he could see tiny gaps between them that came to be known as synapses. Together those two insights are known as the "neuron doctrine," and that understanding is fundamental to neuroscience.
Ramón y Cajal shared the Nobel Prize for his discovery with Camillo Golgi, who developed the special staining method that allowed the neurons to be individually visible.
But even Golgi didn't agree that synapses existed, for they were so tiny that they were almost impossible to see through the microscopes of the time.
Learn more:
Wikipedia on: Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Quanta Magazine: Why the First Drawings of Neurons Were Defaced
BBC Science Focus podcast: Your Brain Chemistry and You
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