Herbert Gasser

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Herbert Spencer Gasser
Gasser in 1944
Born(1888-07-05)July 5, 1888
DiedMay 11, 1963(1963-05-11) (aged 74)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Known forAction potentials
Nerve fiber analysis
AwardsNobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1944)
Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) (1946)[1]
Scientific career
FieldsPhysiology
InstitutionsRockefeller University
Cornell University
Washington University in St. Louis

Herbert Gasser (Herbert Spencer Gasser, July 5, 1888 – May 11, 1963) was an American doctor.[2] He won the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Joseph Erlanger.

Gasser discovered the different conductivity rates of different groups of nerve fibres. The work led to advances in our knowledge of the mechanism of pain and of reflex action and has inspired a large school of neurophysiologists.[3] The Nobel Foundation described their work as "for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres" which probably means 'different fibres do different things'.

References[change | change source]

  1. Adrian, L. (1964). "Herbert Spencer Gasser 1888–1963". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 10: 75–82. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1964.0005. S2CID 74636683.
  2. "Biography of Herbert S. Gasser". The Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2010-06-09. Retrieved 2010-12-18.
  3. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1944". The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2010-12-18.