Joseph Erlanger 1874-1965.

Joseph Erlanger was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1944, and shared it with Herbert Gasser for research on the nerve impulse. They were the first to employ a cathode ray tube and thereby to obtain accurate recordings of the impulses (action potentials) in groups of vertebrate nerve fibres; later, Erlanger was able to record from single fibres. At the time of receiving the award Erlanger, who also had a strong background in cardiovascular physiology, was the Head of the Physiology Department at Washington University, St Louis. Erlanger's many honours included the Presidency of the American Physiological Society (1926 –1929). Keywords: nerve impulse; action potential; cathode ray tube; nerve fibre groups; Herbert Gasser