Palay, Sanford L.

A pioneering neuroscientist, Sanford L. Palay began research into the structure and function of the brain as a student at Western Reserve Medical School (MD, 1943). His research on the fine structure of synaptic vesicles at the Rockefeller Institute in 1953, resulted in a series of electron micrographs that are often cited as the first images of the synapse and of the structures that release messenger chemicals in the brain. His later work at the National Institutes of Health and at Harvard Medical School (1961-1989) helped provide a well rounded picture of the structure of neuroglia (cells that support and protect neurons) and of the cerebellum. Palay was the long-time editor of the Journal of Comparative Neurology.

From the guide to the Sanford Louis Palay Papers, 1938-2002, 1938-2002, (American Philosophical Society)