Camillo Golgi(1843 — 1926)
Camillo Golgi
empire d'Autriche, royaume d'Italie, royaume de Sardaigne
6 min read
Italian physician and biologist, a pioneer in the study of the nervous system. In 1873 he developed a method for staining nerve cells (the “black reaction”) that revolutionized neuroanatomy. He received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1906.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1843 in Corteno (today Corteno Golgi), Italy
- Developed the “black reaction” in 1873, a method of staining nerve cells with silver nitrate
- Described the Golgi apparatus, a cellular organelle, in 1898
- Received the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with Santiago Ramón y Cajal
- Died in 1926 in Pavia
Works & Achievements
A silver nitrate staining technique that makes entire nerve cells visible. It laid the foundations of modern neuroanatomy and is still used today.
Golgi distinguished two main types of neurons according to the length of their projection; some neurons still bear his name.
Demonstration that fever attacks coincide with the multiplication and release of parasites into the blood, a major step in understanding the disease.
Identification of an internal organelle of the cell, present in almost all cells and essential to the sorting of proteins; it bears his name.
Identification of sensory receptors located in the tendons, which inform the brain of muscle tension.
Award given jointly to Golgi and Cajal “in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system.”
Anecdotes
In 1873, Camillo Golgi developed his famous “black reaction” almost by chance, in the kitchen of a small hospital for the incurable where he worked, for lack of a laboratory. By impregnating fragments of brain with silver nitrate, he obtained nerve cells entirely blackened against a yellow background, finally visible in all their detail.
In 1906, Golgi shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with the Spaniard Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who had nonetheless used his own staining method. The paradox was complete: the two men scientifically detested each other, for Golgi believed that the nervous system formed a continuous network, whereas Cajal defended the idea that neurons are separate cells — and it was Cajal who was right.
During his Nobel acceptance speech in Stockholm, Golgi used the platform to openly attack the neuron theory defended by Cajal, who was seated in the very same room. It was one of the most tense moments in the history of the scientific Nobel Prizes.
While studying malaria, Golgi discovered that the bouts of fever coincided with the moment when the parasites multiply and burst in the blood: this is “Golgi's law.” This observation made it possible to better understand and treat the disease.
In 1898, while observing stained nerve cells, Golgi described a network of tiny filaments inside the cell. This “Golgi apparatus” still bears his name today and appears in every biology textbook: it is an essential organelle present in almost all of our cells.
Primary Sources
I have obtained magnificent results with a method that seems to me destined for a great future, by letting potassium bichromate act at length, then silver nitrate, on hardened fragments of the brain.
Although the neuron doctrine is fashionable today, I do not believe I can regard it as definitively established; the facts I have observed lead me, on the contrary, to accept the continuity of the nervous network.
Within the cell body a fine reticular apparatus is revealed, stained black by the silver impregnation, whose arrangement deserves the greatest attention.
The febrile attack corresponds with remarkable regularity to the moment of segmentation and release of the parasites into the patient's blood.
Key Places
Mountain village in Lombardy where Camillo Golgi was born in 1843. The town added his name in tribute.
Golgi studied medicine there and later became a professor; it was the heart of his scientific career and his research on the nervous system.
Small hospital where Golgi, a young doctor, developed his “black reaction” in a kitchen turned into a makeshift laboratory.
City where Golgi received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1906 and gave his famous speech defending the nerve network theory.
Lombard city where Golgi spent most of his life and where he died in 1926.
