Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Barcelona

Santiago Ramon y Cajal and Barcelona: a failed encounter
Prof. Isidro Ferrer, Institut Neuropatologia, Servei Anatomia Patològica, IDIBELL-Hospital Universitari
de Bellvitge, Universitat de Barcelona, CIBERNED, Hospitalet de LLobregat; Spain
If you want to succeed in very arduous tasks give them all your will,
preparing longer and with greater effort than appears to be necessary
Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Mi infancia y juventud
The history of my achievements is very simple: it is the common
history of an indomitable will power focused on succeeding in life at
any price
Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Historia de mi labor científica
L’eixample, I. Cerdá, 1859
The Cathedral of the craftsmen
Barcelona’s Cathedral “Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia” was build up during the XIII
and XV centuries but was not finished until the end of the XIX century in a neo gothic style.
Views of the Cathedral by 1980 and 1990
The Cloister, XIV-XV Centuries
Josep LLimona, 1920. Christ burial
Santa Maria del Mar, the Cathedral of the fishermen
Biographical sketch
1852: Born in Petilla de Aragón (Navarra)
1873: Military Doctor assigned to Cuba
1875: Associate Professor of Anatomy at the School of Medicine in Zaragoza
1879: Director of the Museums at the same School
1883: Chair of General Anatomy at the University of Valencia
1887: Chair of Histology and Pathological Anatomy of the School of Medicine at
the University of Barcelona
1892: Chair of Histology, Histochemistry and Pathologic Anatomy of the School
of Medicine at the University of Madrid
1906: Nobel Prize
1920: Foundation of the Cajal Institute
1934: Died in Madrid
Petilla de Aragón. Photographs made by S. Ramón y Cajal
De Carlos Segovia JA, Los Ramón y Cajal: una familia aragonesa, Gobierno de Aragón, 1999
Silveria Fañanás García
Wife of S. Ramón y Cajal
from July 19, 1879 until her
death in 1930. They had
seven children
The only relative who
attended the weeding was
Cajal’s brother Pedro.
Antonia Cajal with
Jorja, Pabla,
Santiago and
Pedro, 1890
Pedralbes monastery
Patchs and orchads
Casa Batllo
Harbour, 1880
Palau Reial Major
Palau de la Generalitat
Plaça Reial; Royal Square
Liceu Theatre
Santiago Ramón y Cajal obtained a Chair as Professor of Histology
and Pathologic Anatomy in the School of Medicine of the University of
Barcelona in 1887, and he worked in Barcelona until 1891.
This was a fascinating historical period as Barcelona was in the
blossom of a renaissance of social and cultural identity.
On the one hand, the bourgeoisie promoted a cultural Catalan
movement based on architecture, sculpture, painting, literature, poetry
and music, together with innovation in industry.
On the other, social movements organized trade unionism. The
authorities were devoted to the Universal Exposition of 1888 and
engaged in later development of the city beyond its historical limits.
F. Rius i Taulet, Mayor of Barcelona, 1872-1873;
Jan 1874-Dec 1874; 1881-1884; 1885-1889
1888
ƒUniversal Exposition in Barcelona
ƒOpening of the Monument to Cristopher Columbus
ƒInternacional Grand Hotel
ƒLaunching of the newspaper Noticiero Universal
ƒFirst Congress of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and the trade union
General Union of Workers (UGT)
ƒJocs Florals: Catalan Festival of Poetry and Culture. Closing speech by
Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo supporting the development of the Catalan
language and culture
ƒPoetry by Angel Guimera Mar i Cel
ƒPàtria: Catalan patriotic poem by Jacint Verdaguer
ƒMonument to Rafael de Casanova, defeated leader supporting
independence for Catalonia
1891
ƒFoundation of the Catalan Union, Right-wing Catalan nationalist party
ƒFoundation of the Orfeo Catala, Official Catalan choral society
ƒPaintings by R. Casas and S. Rusiñol
Monument to Cristopher Columbus
Triumphal arch
Café Restaurante
del Parque
The cascade and the fountain, Ciutadella’s Park, 1881
Parque de la Ciudadela
Catalan nationalist meeting, Teatro Novedades, 1886
After the ball, Rovira Ribera 1887
Priest J. Verdaguer
by R. Casas
Santiago Rusiñol i Prats
Pawnbrocker’s, 1889
Ramon Casas, portrait, 1889
Ramón Casas
Els quatre gats
Ramón Casas. Death penalty, “garrote vil”
Ramón Casas. Baton charge, 1899-1900 (dated 1903)
Ramon Casas. Fresh air, 1892
Ramón Casas. Ladies portrait, 1896
Pablo Ruiz Picasso. Portrait of the Artist's Mother. 1896. Pastel on Paper. Self-Portrait. 1896. Oil on canvas.
Museo Picasso, Barcelona, Spain.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso. Science and Charity. 1897. Oil on canvas. Museo Picasso, Barcelona, Spain
Official diploma of the Universal Exposition of Barcelona to Santiago Ramon y Cajal for his participation
with histological preparations of the nervous tissue
The Universal Exposition of 1888 remained open for thirty-five weeks. A million an a
half people visited it, at an average rate of about six thousand a day. Most of them
were Spaniards; the show attracted a healthy influx of foreign visitors, but the
predicted flood of them did not come. When its doors closed on December 9, 1888,
the books showed a deficit of six million pesetas, which surprised nobody. Rius i
Taulet, it seemed, had a simple stratagem when money looked tight: he asked
Madrid for money, got none, and spent it away.
So it took the city another ten years to pay the debt...
Robert Hughes. Barcelona, 1992
The Universal Exposition in Barcelona in 1988 turned out to be a great event,
because of the visibility of the technical, industrial and commercial success of
Catalonia during the time of the Restauracio. This accelerated the international
impact of Barcelona, and permitted, under the direction of the Mayor Francesc Rius i
Taulet, the culmination of town-planning reforms geared to activating the economy
and labour.
Cronologia d’Historia del món. Edicions 62. Director: Jesús Mestre i Campi
1888
ƒAward for the presentation at the Universal Exposition
ƒSeveral publications in la Gaceta Médica Catalana
ƒCreation and launching of the “Revista Trimestral de Histología Normal y
Patológica”
ƒPublication of studies on the structure of the cerebellum and retina
1889
ƒ“Manual de Histología Normal y Técnica Micrográfica”
ƒPublications on the structure of the spinal cord
ƒOlder son suffers serious typhoid fever
ƒDaughter Enriqueta dies in June as a result of tuberculous meningitis
ƒMeeting of the German Society of Anatomy in Berlin in October: International
success of Santiago Ramón y Cajal
ƒTheory of the Functional Unity of the Neuron
1894
Chick cerebellum
1890, 1891
ƒPublication of the book “Manual de Anatomía Patológica”
ƒPublication of numerous papers about the structure of the nervous system
ƒSeveral studies of the development of the nervous system: neurogenesis,
discovery of the growth cones
ƒTheory of the tropism of the neuron: axonal growth, arrival and targeting
ƒOntogenic study of the cerebellum
ƒStudies of the structure of the cerebral cortex
ƒStudies of the neuroglia
ƒStructure of the olfactory pathways
1892
ƒSeveral studies translated and published in “Archiv für Anatomie und
Physiologie and in the Bulletin Médicale de Paris”
Faculty of Medicine of
Barcelona
Plaza de Cataluña: Catalunya Square
Paseo de Gracia, 1888:
De Gracia Avenue
Central Catalana de Electricidad, Pere Falqués, 1897
Palau Guell, A. Gaudi, 1885-1890
S. Ramón y Cajal: An Spanish patriot
We must work for the prestige of our race, showing foreigners that those
who centuries ago immortalised their names with geographical discoveries
and who illuminated peaceful revolutions in the fields of art, literature and
history, will meet with equal enthusiasm the study of nature, collaborating
with more advanced people in the most commendable acts of civilisation
and progress.
Cultural flourishing is the result of the contact between separate cultures
and civilisations.
Dr. Jaume Ferrán
Dr. Bartomeu Robert
Mayor of Barcelona, 1899
Political interests were not directed to the study of Neuroscience but, rather,
other aspects as the study of infectious diseases, epidemiology and
vaccination deserved priority. In spite of the success of the work of Ramon
y Cajal, particularly in Germany and France, his discoveries were almost
ignored or minimized by the academic and political authorities in Barcelona.
Before he decided to apply for a chair at the University of Madrid, which
he was obliged to do for economic reasons, we had negotiated with the
municipal authorities of Barcelona regarding the possibility of creating a
laboratory of histology under the direction of Dr. Ramón y Cajal.
But the municipal authorities, who devoted most of their efforts to
external, useless events, did not listen to our request, which was made
without the stamp of a lobby or the help of a politician.
Cajal left our city in yearning, and we remain ashamed.
Josep María Roca. Tribute to the teacher. Barcelona, 1923
“Really grieved, I had to abandon my friends and, with them, a city where
I found an ambience particularly favourable to carrying out my scientific
studies and publications. With no less sorrow, I said goodbye to the
Pajarera were I spent unforgettable moments.”
Prof. Diego Ferrer. Cajal y Barcelona
1890
1899 Publication of “Textura del Sistema Nervioso del Hombre y de los
Vertebrados”
1902: Jorge Francisco Tello (1880-1958)
1912: Nicolás Achúcarro (1880-1918) Director of the Laboratory of Histopathology
1913-1914: Publication of “Estudios sobre la degeneración y regeneración del
sistema nervioso”
1915: Pío del Rio Hortega (1882-1945, Buenos Aires) began to work with N.
Achúcarro
1920: Rafael Lorente de Nó (1902-1990)
1930: Silveria Fañanas, Ramon y Cajal’s wife, dies
1932: Publication of “Técnica micrográfica del sistema nervioso” (with de
Castro). Inauguration of the Cajal Institute
1933: Publication of “¿Neuronismo o reticularismo?”
1934: Santiago Ramón y Cajal dies
From left to right: Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora, Domingo Sánchez, Jose María Sacristán, Manuel Gayarre,
Nicolás Achúcarro, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Luis Rodríguez Illera, Juan de Dios Sacristán, the technician and
the caretaker. Published by “La Esfera”, 1915
1920
Fernando de Castro
Last scientific publication of S. Ramón y Cajal. First appeared in 1933
*
Consell de Cent, 304, 2n
In the face of the old teachers, young scientists must not keep quiet in
amazement, but rather alert and zealous.
The specialist works as a larva placed for life on the same leaf, with the
hope that his small work may swing isolated in space. The general scientist
foresees the common trunk of the several branches that form the tree.
Spain will not leave its mental dejection until the old heads of the professors,
oriented to the past, are replaced by new minds oriented to the future and
progress.
Reglas y Consejos sobre la Investigación Científica. Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Cajal was a complex person with lightness and shadows, able to offer the
highest generosity while also falling into inappropriate wickedness. He
was demanding with everyone, especially with himself; tireless; arbitrary;
ingenuous; audacious; arrogant; clever; persevering; skilled; and above
all, driven by a strong will-power, inexhaustible self-confidence, and an
astonishing capacity for work.
He was not a superman. But he was a wise person who learnt to see what
others did not see, who learnt to understand and to perceive the things
around him, who learnt to interpret what he saw and to take advantage of
current methods and advances. He was the discoverer and the first fair
chronicler of the brain.
Antonio Calvo Rey. Cajal. Triunfar a toda costa, 1999 (Triumph at any price)
Ramón y Cajal produced in Barcelona the most important discoveries
related with the nervous system, including the theory of the neuron,
the theory of neuronal polarity and the theory of the neuronal tropism,
in addition to crucial work centred on the development and structure
of the nervous system.
His work was presented in Berlin in 1889 and immediately recognized
and respected internationally.
Yet in Barcelona his work was practically ignored.
He was forced to promote and finance his own publications, and his
studies, most of them carried out at home, did not receive the support
of the university authorities.
This was not the consequence of a confrontation but rather the result
of an insane neglect of science.