Joseph Erlanger (1874-1965)

Awarded the Prize “for his discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres.”

American physiologist. Erlanger was born on January 5, 1874 in San Francisco, California. He received his B.S. at the University of California in 1895, and his M.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 1899, where he worked for seven years until was appointed as Professor of Physiology in the Medical School of the University of Wisconsin. In 1910 he was appointed Professor of Physiology in the Medical School of the Washington University. In 1946 he retired as chairman of this school, becoming emeritus professor there. Erlanger died on December 15, 1965 at St. Louis.