Remembering the man who discovered how nerve impulses are exchanged between cells, Andrew Huxley, born on this day in 1917.
The nervous system in people and animals consists of many different cells. In cells, signals are conveyed by small electrical currents and by chemical substances. By measuring changes in electrical charges in a very large nerve fiber from a species of octopus, Huxley together with Alan Hodgkin was able to show how nerve impulses are exchanged between cells.
In 1952 they demonstrated that a fundamental mechanism involves the passage of sodium and potassium ions in opposite directions in and out through the cell wall, which gives rise to electrical charges.
Huxley and Hodgkin were awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery.
Grateful thanks to
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