Página en Español / Spanish

http://www.cajal.csic.es/

El Instituto Cajal es un Centro de Investigación en Neurobiología perteneciente al Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. 

Se trata del centro de investigación neurobiológica más antiguo de España. Sus investigadores y profesionales de renombre contribuyen al avance espectacular de la Neurobiología en todo el mundo. El IC se prepara para afrontar los retos del futuro y pone al servicio de la sociedad el Legado Cajal.

Website in English / Inglés

http://www.cajal.csic.es/ingles/index.html

The “Instituto Cajal” is a neuroscience research center assigned to the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). 

The Cajal institute is the oldest neurobiology research center in Spain. Along its more than 100 years of existence, renowned scientists and professionals have spread worldwide and contributed to the remarkable advancement of neurobiology. Today, the Cajal Institute is prepared to confront the future challenges and to maintain the leading role in neurobiological research in Spain, always keeping in mind that the final destination of knowledge is the well being of the society.

LA GENERACIÓN DEL 98

Enlace/Link al Centro Virtual Cervantes (Spanish).

Fuente/Source: Centro Virtual Cervantes/Cervantes Virtual Centre.

Translation to English (traducción al inglés)

The Generation of '98

Usually the man is a reflection of the spiritual and material environment in which he lives, but not always, and Cajal is a clear example of the latter. A personality like his was not carried away by the physical and moral involving him and his career, therefore, was not the expected logic of a collective atmosphere of one of the worst moments in the history of Spain. Let's see how Cajal transited counterclockwise so the logic of the time should have led him.

Cajal comes to scientific research when it is in crisis the thinking of idealist philosophy, when the industrial revolution was offered as live demonstration of what is progress from the cultivation of positive science. It's the time of the great inventions with  application to everyday life, and therefore, the time when Europe attends the launch of industrial countries and cultivators of science. Born the great myth of the art and in this context, philosophical thought realizes that if  it wants to continue to possess seniority within the set of knowledge, must be coupled with positive science.

Thus, the philosophy that pervades Cajal will come from the “krausismo” positivist Spanish front, which is inspired by Comte, in the neo-Kantianism and, above all, in the great success of Darwinism which constitutes a key contribution from that pretends to explain, with scientific character, problems till then reserved to philosophical speculation and, above all, religious. The last third of the nineteenth century is proof that rationality is plausible in any field of knowledge. This philosophical background that crosses Europe collects and crystallizes in Spain in a critical sentiment denouncing their secular cultural delay. Throughout the nineteenth century we can witness a progressive movement, first of suspect, later of conviction, of failing, of not doing what a true European would do. This situation adds another factor of prime importance. In the last years of that century Spain sank into the bitterness of defeat that entailed the final collapse of its colonial empire.

Santiago Ramon y Cajal, medicine student at  Zaragoza in 1876. Picture property of Mr. Luis Ramón y Cajal.

A set of circumstances, to which I allude only because they are well known, did a backward country of Spain against the other peoples of Europe. As a result, among other things, it was estimated as valuable only those things taking the mark from abroad. The values ​​of the French, English, or German imposed in all fields, in science and in industry, in the arts and fashion. Spain declined and eagerly sought what other peoples produced abundantly. Only in the literary continued, perhaps, its glorious tradition. Athenians and Societies gathered most cultured men who were busy discussing sterile on all sorts of subjects, and among them,  science, obviously, was not the favorite.

This set of circumstances led to a collective sense, initially of guilt and after creative criticism among the Spanish top then, and the Post scriptum, as mentioned before, is the best reflection of these words. It was the attitude that has been called Generation of '98, so lucky synthetic expression but, at the same time dangerous because it tends to circumscribe a deep and complex national moment in a limited group of men, mainly in a few writers.

The Generation of '98 was more than the act of a literary group: represents a noble critical reaction to a serious national crisis; reaction won a large number of Spanish who felt a responsibility to his country and his time. So, that vast and bitter reaction was fruitful, creative and, above all, intelligent. Nothing confirms the effectiveness of that movement considering Spanish as their results. They succeeded to create an enduring love for living things of Spain -earth, character, man, art- which had hitherto been neglected. That "rule with sadness" that enthused Costa, and Cajal advocated as a panacea, had its usefulness.

Finally, that generation is also due, and this is often forgotten, to transformation of science. The modest little Spanish science, precarious and parochial, acquires, driven by the new criticism rigorous, strict and universal sense. That change was the movement that led to his formidable Cajal histological work.