Golgi

Golgi, Camillo (1843 or 1844–1926), Italian histologist and pathologist. Among Golgi's many valuable contributions to the histology of the nervous system was his discovery in 1873 of the silver nitrate method of staining nerve tissue, which enabled him in 1880 to demonstrate the existence of the type of nerve cell now known as the Golgi cell. The discovery of Golgi cells led Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852–1934) to establish in 1892 that the nerve cell is the basic structural unit of the nervous system. The latter discovery was basic to the development of modern neurology. In 1880 Golgi also found and described the Golgi tendon organ. Three years later he discovered in nerve cells an irregular network of fibrils, vesicles, and granules; this cell organelle is now known to be found generally in plant and animal cells and is called the Golgi apparatus or complex. In 1906 Ramón y Cajal and Golgi were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.