Lorente de Nó, Rafael, 1902-1990.

Spanish-American neuroscientist and physiologist.

Rafael Lorente de Nó (1902-1990) was born in Zaragoza, Spain and earned his medical degree from the University of Madrid in 1923. His mentors were two Nobel prize winners, Ramon y Cajal of the University of Madrid and Robert Bárány in Sweden. Dr. Lorente de Nó joined the staff of the Cajal Institute in 1921 and worked there intermittently for 10 years. He met Bárány his senior year in medical school and arranged to take postdoctoral training in Uppsala from 1924 to 1927 with several months in Berlin in 1925. Due to the lack of funding for research in 1927, he trained in otolaryngology in Madrid and several centers in Germany prior to a practice in otolaryngology in Santander from 1929 to 1931. In 1931, Lorente de Nó's search for a research position brought him to the United States to join the staff of the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis (1931-1936) as neuroanatomist (Director of the neuro-anatomical laboratory). He had a Rockfeller Foundation grant throughout his time in St. Louis. He was appointed lecturer in neuro-otology at the Washington University School of Medicine in 1935. He followed Herbert Gasser to the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research which later became the Rockefeller University in New York (1936-1972). He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1950. He retired in 1972 to become visiting professor of surgery and anatomy at U.C.L.A. "His most significant work was determining the structure and function of the cerebral cortex," work that he began with the Vogts in Berlin in 1925. He also studied "how the nervous system is related to balance and investigated the electrical and chemical basis of nerve functions. In 1963, he introduced experimental evidence that every portion of a nerve fiber transmits electrical nerve impulses, a finding contrary to what many physiologists believe." Sources: "Rafael Lorente de Nó dies of cancer at 87; a neural researcher" Obituaries, New York Times, April 6, 1990, viewed 5/28/2008; Amer. Men & Women Sci, 1932; FP005: National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir by Thomas A. Woolsey, ca. 1995; Washington University School of Medicine catalogue, 1935, p. 13, 68.