Santiago Ramon y Cajal was born in 1852, son to a Professor of Applied Anatomy at the University of Saragossa in Spain. Cajal loved art and aspired to be an artist, but after some persuasion on his father's end, he decided to pursue medicine.
It's no wonder then that Cajal was able to combine an advanced understanding of neuroanatomy with the beauty of pen and paper to produce drawings of neurons so famed that they are still put on exhibition today. Some 80 notebooks from Cajal's collection were on display at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University in 2018. Impressively, Cajal freehanded all of his drawings, guided only by a microscope!
Cajal won a Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1906 along with Camillo Golgi for their impactful work in deciphering neuroanatomy. Cajal used the Golgi method to silver-stain neurons and identify various types of cells in the nervous system, including the Purkinje neuron shown above.
This scientist is proof of how different disciplines can come together to advance our understanding of science-- and produce some beautiful art!