• Question: Which scientist first discovered the brain and when?

    Asked by Julia301003 to Adrian, Iroise, Joe, Rachel, Ria on 4 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Joe Bathelt

      Joe Bathelt answered on 4 Nov 2016:

      People have known that the brain exists for a long time. It is mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts, but the first speculations about the function of the brain came from ancient Greece. However, Aristotle, one of the most influential Greek philosophers, thought that the brain’s function was to cool the heart. Our modern view of the brain as the centre of thought probably came from Galen, who lived during Roman times.

    • Photo: Iroise Dumontheil

      Iroise Dumontheil answered on 6 Nov 2016:

      Santiago Ramon y Cajal is a very important person in the history of our understanding of the brain, he was a Spanish anatomist who figured out how brain cells, neurons, work. He received a Nobel prize for his work, along with another researcher, Camillo Golgi, who had developed techniques to stain neurons so they could be studied under the microscope. You can read about this here:
      http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n17/history/neurons3_i.htm

    • Photo: Ria Vaportzis

      Ria Vaportzis answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      It’s hard to attribute the discovery of the brain to one person. The brain has been discussed by the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, although they had several different names to refer to it.

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