A rebellious young pathologist from Spain challenged Golgi’s theory. A gymnast, an athlete, and an avid draftsman—“shy, unsociable, secretive, brusque,” as one biographer described him—Santiago Ramón y Cajal was the son of an anatomy teacher who, in the tradition of Vesalius, took his young boy to the graveyards in his town to dissect specimens. As a child, Cajal was known for his elaborate pranks. His first “book” was on the construction of slingshots—a fusion, as it were, of his love for accuracy and his disdain for authority. He also drew compulsively—bird’s eggs, nests, leaves, bones,
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