Lord Adrian, MD, PRS, OM

Eur Neurol. 2018;79(1-2):64-67. doi: 10.1159/000485615. Epub 2017 Dec 14.

Abstract

Edgar Douglas Adrian was an outstandingly brilliant, Nobel prize-winning neurophysiologist. He is remembered for developing the all-or-none principle of muscle contraction, and for explaining the minutiae of motor and sensory nerve transmission. He showed that the afferent effect in a neuron depends on the pattern in time of the impulses travelling in it, thereby providing a quantitative basis of nervous behaviour. With Sir Charles Sherrington, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1932 for discoveries on the functions of the neurons.

Keywords: All or none principle; Lord Adrian; Nerve transmission; Neurophysiologist; Refractory period.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • Historical Article
  • Portrait

MeSH terms

  • England
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Neurophysiology / history*
  • Nobel Prize

Personal name as subject

  • Edgar Douglas Adrian