Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian (30 November 1889 – 4 August 1977) was an English

electrophysiologist Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" etymology of "electron"">Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , ''-logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of bi ...

and recipient of the 1932

Nobel Prize for Physiology The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...

, won jointly with

Sir Charles Sherrington Sir Charles Scott Sherrington (27 November 1857 – 4 March 1952) was an eminent English neurophysiologist. His experimental research established many aspects of contemporary neuroscience, including the concept of the spinal reflex as a system ...

for work on the function of

neuron A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. N ...

s. He provided experimental evidence for the

all-or-none law In physiology, the all-or-none law (sometimes the all-or-none principle or all-or-nothing law) is the principle that if a single nerve fibre is stimulated, it will always give a maximal response and produce an electrical impulse of a single amp ...

of nerves.

Biography

Adrian was born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, London, the youngest son of Alfred Douglas Adrian, legal adviser to the

Local Government Board The Local Government Board (LGB) was a British Government supervisory body overseeing local administration in England and Wales from 1871 to 1919. The LGB was created by the Local Government Board Act 1871 (C. 70) and took over the public health a ...

, and Flora Lavinia Barton. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and then studied Natural Sciences at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, graduating in 1911. In 1913 he was elected to a fellowship of Trinity College on account of his research into the "all or none" law of nerves. After completing a medical degree (MB BCh) in 1915, he undertook clinical work at

St Bartholomew's Hospital St Bartholomew's Hospital, commonly known as Barts, is a teaching hospital located in the City of London. It was founded in 1123 and is currently run by Barts Health NHS Trust. History Early history Barts was founded in 1123 by Rahere (died ...

London during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, treating soldiers with nerve damage and nervous disorders such as

shell shock Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...

. Adrian returned to Cambridge as a lecturer gaining his doctorate (MD) in 1919 and in 1925 began research on the human sensory organs by electrical methods.

Career

Continuing earlier studies of Keith Lucas, he used a capillary electrometer and

cathode ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms ( oscilloscope), pictu ...

to amplify the signals produced by the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

and was able to record the electrical discharge of single nerve fibres under physical stimulus. (It seems he used frogs in his experiments) An accidental discovery by Adrian in 1928 proved the presence of electricity within nerve cells. Adrian said,

I had arranged electrodes on the optic nerve of a toad in connection with some experiments on the retina. The room was nearly dark and I was puzzled to hear repeated noises in the loudspeaker attached to the amplifier, noises indicating that a great deal of impulse activity was going on. It was not until I compared the noises with my own movements around the room that I realised I was in the field of vision of the toad's eye and that it was signalling what I was doing.

A key result, published in 1928, stated that the excitation of the skin under constant stimulus is initially strong but gradually decreases over time, whereas the sensory impulses passing along the nerves from the point of contact are constant in strength, yet are reduced in frequency over time, and the sensation in the brain diminishes as a result. Extending these results to the study of pain causes by the stimulus of the nervous system, he made discoveries about the reception of such signals in the brain and spatial distribution of the sensory areas of the

cerebral cortex The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. The cerebral cortex mostly consists of the six-layered neocortex, with just 10% consisting of ...

in different animals. These conclusions lead to the idea of a sensory map, called the

homunculus A homunculus ( , , ; "little person") is a representation of a small human being, originally depicted as small statues made out of clay. Popularized in sixteenth-century alchemy and nineteenth-century fiction, it has historically referred to the ...

, in the

somatosensory system In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...

. Later, Adrian used the

electroencephalogram Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex ...

to study the electrical activity of the brain in humans. His work on the abnormalities of the

Berger Berger is a surname in both German and French, although there is no etymological connection between the names in the two languages. The French surname is an occupational name for a shepherd, from Old French ''bergier'' (Late Latin ''berbicarius'', ...

rhythm paved the way for subsequent investigation in

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

and other cerebral pathologies. He spent the last portion of his research career investigating olfaction. Positions that he held during his career included Foulerton Professor 1929–1937; Professor of Physiology in the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

1937–1951;

President of the Royal Society The president of the Royal Society (PRS) is the elected Head of the Royal Society of London who presides over meetings of the society's council. After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was officially founded on 28 November ...

1950–1955; Master of

, 1951–1965; president of the

Royal Society of Medicine The Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) is a medical society in the United Kingdom, headquartered in London. History The Society was established in 1805 as Medical and Chirurgical Society of London, meeting in two rooms in barristers’ chamber ...

1960–1962; Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1967–1975; Chancellor of the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

1957–1971. Adrian was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1938. In 1946 he became foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

. In 1942 he was awarded membership to the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

and in 1955 was created

Baron Adrian Baron Adrian, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 27 January 1955 for the electrophysiologist and Nobel Prize recipient Edgar Adrian. He was succeeded by his only son, the s ...

, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge. He died in Cambridge and was given the honour of being buried in

Family

On 14 June 1923 Edgar Adrian married Hester Agnes Pinsent, who was the daughter of

Ellen Pinsent Dame Ellen Frances Pinsent DBE (''née'' Parker; 26 March 1866 – 10 October 1949) was a British mental health worker, and first female member of the Birmingham City Council. Family Ellen Frances Parker was born in Claxby, Lincolnshire, the ...

and sister of

David Pinsent David Hume Pinsent (; 24 May 1891 – 8 May 1918) was a collaborator of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein's ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' (1922) is dedicated to Pinsent's memory. Early life Pinsent, a descendant of ...

. Together they had three children, first a daughter and then twins: * Anne Pinsent Adrian, who married the physiologist

Richard Keynes Richard Darwin Keynes, CBE, FRS ( ; 14 August 1919 – 12 June 2010) was a British physiologist. The great-grandson of Charles Darwin, Keynes edited his great-grandfather's accounts and illustrations of Darwin's famous voyage aboard into ''T ...

, who was the great-grandson of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

. The couple had four children. ** Adrian Keynes (1946–1974) **

Randal Keynes Randal Hume Keynes, OBE, FLS ( ; born 29 July 1948) is a British conservationist, author, and great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. Family background Keynes was born in Cambridge, England. He is the son of the Hon. Anne Pinsent (née Adri ...

(*1948) **

Roger Keynes Roger John Keynes FMedSci (; born 25 February 1951) is a British medical scientist. He is a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a professor within the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. Keynes is the third of four so ...

(*1951) **

Simon Keynes Simon Douglas Keynes, ( ; born 23 September 1952) is a British author who is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon emeritus in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity Colleg ...

(*1952) *

Richard Adrian, 2nd Baron Adrian Richard Hume Adrian, 2nd Baron Adrian FRS (16 October 1927 – 4 April 1995) was a British peer and physiologist. Personal life Richard Hume Adrian was born in Cambridge in 1927, as the only son of Edgar Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian and his wife, ...

(1927–1995) ** The couple had no children. * Jennet Adrian (b. 1927), who married Peter Watson Campbell ** Further family details unknown.

Bibliography

*''The Basis of Sensation'' (1928) *''The Mechanism of Nervous Action'' (1932) *''Factors Determining Human Behavior'' (1937)

Arms

References

External links

* including the Nobel Lecture on December 12, 1932 ''The Activity of the Nerve Fibres''
The Master of Trinity
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adrian, Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron 1889 births 1977 deaths People from Hampstead Alumni of the Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Barons Adrian Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II English neuroscientists English physiologists Chancellors of the University of Cambridge English Nobel laureates Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge Members of the Order of Merit Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine People educated at Westminster School, London People associated with the University of Leicester Presidents of the Royal Society Presidents of the Royal Society of Medicine Fellows of the Royal Society Recipients of the Copley Medal Royal Medal winners Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Professors of Physiology (Cambridge) Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences