Neuron Doctrine

The Neuron Doctrine resulting from Cajal's discovery took over 40 years to be confirmed. Cajal and Golgi were both awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Cajal believed that neurons communicated by contact while Golgi thought the nervous system was one contiuous network. These two ideas went against each other until the electron microscope was invented. The electron microscope allowed scientists to have a closer look at how neurons actually communicated. It was confirmed then that Cajal was right about neurons communicating by contact. The Neuron Doctrine stating that neurons are the basic unit in the network of discrete individual cells in the nervous system was validated in the 1950s.