Neuroscience: Landmark Discoveries that Shaped Neuroscience

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of landmark discoveries in neuroscience over the past 250 years, tracing the evolution of our understanding of the brain. It begins with the earliest recorded references to the brain in the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus and progresses through key milestones such as the anatomy of the ear, the description of nerve fibers, the concept of reflex, and the localization of brain functions. The essay highlights the contributions of influential figures like Antonio Maria Valsalva, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Jean Astruc, John Augustus Unzer, Herophilus, Julien Jean Cesar, Franz Josef Gall, Richard Canton, Emst Fleischl von Marxov, Adolf Beck, Hans Berger, Penfield, Theodor Schwann, Mathias Jacob Schleiden, Golgi, Cajal, Luigi Galvani, Emil DuBois-Reymond, and Johannes Muller. It emphasizes the development of the cell theory, electrical recording from the brain, the mapping of motor, sensory, and language areas, and the role of the temporal lobes in memory. The essay concludes by emphasizing how the cumulative work of these scientists has laid the foundation for modern neuroscience and ongoing exploration in the field.

Running head: Neuroscience 1
Landmark Discoveries over the Past 250 Years That Have Laid the Foundations for Modern
Neuroscience.
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Introduction
As far as history dates back, humans have often been amazed about their nature and the
foundations of our existence. It seems like the historical scientists had first to find out or
comprehend the origin of the thought process before they could comprehensively respond to
the question, ‘whom am I?’ it was mandatory for them to understand the background of the
thought process. This essay discusses the landmark discoveries of neuroscience over the past
250 years that have laid the foundations of modern neuroscience (Kambi & Jain, 2012).
The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus is the earliest recorded reference to the brain and was
published in the 17th century. The hieroglyph for the brain is reported over seven times in the
papyrus, and it outlined the symptoms, diagnosis, and prognosis of patients with head wounds
and compounded skull fractures (van Middendorp, Sanchez, & Burridge, 2010). The anatomy
of the ears was published in 1704 by Antonio Maria Valsalva. The Valsalva antrum of the ear
and the Valsalva maneuver are associated with his name and are used as a test of circulatory
function. The author also successfully removed a dog’s kidney and was against cauterization
as an intervention in the treatment of wounds, and instead suggested the humane treatment of
sick patients (Wiest, 2015). In 1717 Antony van Leeuwenhoek explained nerve fiber in cross-
section. Antony made significant contributions in microscopy and created over 25 single-lens
microscopes (Boullerne, 2016). Reflex was first described by Jean Astruc in 1736. However,
the initial complete scientific description of reflex was described by John Augustus Unzer in
1799 (Niklasson, 2012).
A follower of Hippocrates named as Herophilus described the structure of the different parts
of the brain, tendons, nerves, and sections of the eye. After the time of Hirophilus, the
concept that various functions are found in different physical locations of the brain was not
yet explored all through the period of the church influence until the time of dark ages. These

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times were marked with a total ban on human dissection hindering scientific research on the
structure and function of the human brain. Certain concepts on the localization of the role of
the human brain were developed in the 18th century following the experiments by Julien Jean
Cesar who demonstrated ‘medulla’ to be a respiratory center of the brain. A German
physician and neuro-anatomist Franz Josef Gall promulgated a fundamental view in the
1800s that all behavior and mental functions are likely to be due to specific processes in
given parts of the brain. Between the 1870s and the 1900s scientists, pioneers such as Richard
Canton, Emst Fleischl von Marxov, Adolf Beck and Hans Berger demonstrated that electrical
current can be recorded from the brain and that it differs based on the activity status of the
animal Kambi & Jain, 2012). Penfield triggered the cerebral cortex and
electrophysiologically showed for the first time the motor, sensory and language parts in the
brain. Occasionally, the patients showed clear recollection of an event in their past when the
temporal lobes were stimulated. This was a clear indication that the temporal lobes are likely
to be critical for memory.
Another remarkable discovery in the field of neuroscience was that the brain is also made up
of cells. The cell theory by Theodor Schwann and Mathias Jacob Schleiden was developed by
1839, even though it has not been extended to the brain cells. The staining technique was
developed by Golgi in 1873, and Cajal used it and demonstrated that the nervous system is
made up of structurally and functionally separate cells. Luigi Galvani found out that the nerve
and the linked muscles of a lifeless frog were twitched when touched by a charged electric
device. The author suggested that animal charges flowed through the nerve to the tissue
leading to its contraction. The concept of communication among Brain cells has also been
explored due to the discoveries made by Luigi Galvani, and later advanced by Emil DuBois-
Reymond and Johannes Muller. These researchers discovered that the mind/soul worked on

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the body because of the electrical nature of the interaction between the body and the brain
(Müller-Wille, 2010).
Conclusion
The modern understanding of the brain function is the outcome of intuitive research by
historical scientists, which has resulted to an in-depth knowledge of the structure of the brain
and the possibility of the mind emerging from it. Furthermore, the modern sophisticated
developments in neuroscience can therefore be based on the scientific discoveries made in the
early seventeenth century. With the current technological advancements, the field of
neuroscience is still being explored further.

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References
Boullerne, A. I. (2016). The history of myelin. Experimental neurology, 283, 431-445.
Kambi, N., & Jain, N. (2012). Landmark discoveries in neurosciences. Resonance, 17(11),
1054-1064.
Müller-Wille, S. (2010). Cell theory, specificity, and reproduction, 1837–1870. Studies in
History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of
Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 41(3), 225-231.
Niklasson, M. (2012). Could motor development be an emergent property of vestibular
stimulation and primary reflex inhibition? A tentative approach to sensorimotor
therapy. In Learning disabilities. InTech.
van Middendorp, J. J., Sanchez, G. M., & Burridge, A. L. (2010). The Edwin Smith papyrus:
a clinical reappraisal of the oldest known document on spinal injuries. European
Spine Journal, 19(11), 1815-1823.
Wiest, G. (2015). The origins of vestibular science. Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences, 1343(1), 1-9.