At 150 years of the medical Cajal

By JOSÉ MARÍA SERRANO SANZ AND ALBERTO JIMÉNEZ SCHUHMACHER, opinion article in Heraldo de Aragón.

«On June 25, it was exactly 150 years since I received Santiago Ramon y Cajal his bachelor's degree in Medicine from the University of Zaragoza. He was twenty-one years old. It was confirmation that he had taken decisive steps to transform that wild and unruly boy who had arrived in Zaragoza four years before and was now beginning to find his destiny.

The change owed much to the iron will of his father, Justo Ramón, who had not left him by the hand and had managed to channel his undeniable abilities towards science using his love for drawing as an attraction. "My pencil finally found favor in my father's eyes," he wrote in his 'Memories'. The atmosphere of the faculty itself had also stimulated him, with professors who made up for the lack of resources with enthusiasm and classmates in whom he found some of those who would become his best friends. Without forgetting his perfect integration in Zaragoza, "his city."

After finishing his degree, he briefly practiced medicine in its most traditional sense, something that would be almost a complete exception in his long professional career. It was the year 1873 and the Government of the First Republic was facing internal disorders, a new Carlist uprising and an uprising in Cuba, so it decided on a broad call-up that included the recent graduate; It was the so-called fifth of Castelar. Cajal took the exam to become a military doctor and, as a lieutenant, he was incorporated into the fight against the Carlists in Catalonia, which was then in its beginnings. Promoted to captain, he was assigned to Cuba in 1874 where he fell ill due to malaria and had to be repatriated in June 1875, returning to settle in Zaragoza with his family.

Once recovered, the question of his future was once again raised. From the beginning he was less interested in healthcare medicine than in research, but the beginnings were not easy. That's why his father insisted that he not give up the financial security that the first one gave, she made him help her in his office and at the Nuestra Señora de Gracia hospital and He even became a doctor in Castejón de Valdejasa, where it only lasted a few weeks.Aragonese civil society should assume a greater role in maintaining
I live Cajal's legacy and in spreading the values ​​that characterized him: effort,
perseverance, pursuit of excellence and independence of judgment

Cajal had other plans and little by little he became independent from his father's strict guardianship. Personally, he married Silveria Fañanás, against Don Justo's criteria, and professionally he did his doctorate, tried his luck in the competitive examinations and on the third day obtained the professorship. In 1884 he left Zaragoza to join it and by then the passion for science and research had definitively taken root in him; The wise man was ready, as his friend Olóriz said. Later came the discoveries that made him famous and made him the father of modern neuroscience and were recognized with important awards, including the Nobel Prize in 1906.

It is always good to celebrate Cajal, because he is an example and should be a source of pride for Aragon and Spain. That's why we didn't want to let this anniversary pass without remembering it. Especially, considering that we are in the middle of a so-called 'Cajal Triennium' decreed by the central Government, which began in 2022 when the anniversary of his birth was celebrated and which is being left in words, once again. Nor has the Aragonese Government shown much interest at the moment. The University of Zaragoza does it, but with the limitations imposed by its scarce resources, and the City Council has done it symbolically with the Gran Vía de Ramón y Cajal.

In view of all this, perhaps it is more appropriate for civil society, especially Aragonese, to assume a greater role in keep Cajal's legacy alive, vindicate his figure and spread his example and the values ​​that characterized him: effort, perseverance, search for excellence and independence of judgment. The recent constitution in Zaragoza of a Center for Cajalian Studies seeks, precisely, to move in that direction.

Artículo original: https://www.heraldo.es/noticias/opinion/2023/06/25/a-los-150-anos-del-cajal-medico-jose-maria-serrano-sanz-alberto-jimenez-schuhmacher-1660664.html

CSIC photograph, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, in a self-portrait from 1915