Ragnar Granit

Ragnar Arthur Granit

Ragnar Arthur Granit
Born October 30, 1900
Riihimäki, Finland, Russian Empire
Died March 12, 1991 (aged 90)
Stockholm, Sweden
Residence Finland, Sweden
Citizenship Finnish (1900–1941)
Swedish (1941–1991)
Fields Physiology
Notable awards Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1967)

Ragnar Arthur Granit ForMemRS[1] (October 30, 1900 – March 12, 1991) was a Finnish/Swedish scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967[2] along with Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald "for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye".[3]

Granit graduated in 1927 from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Helsinki, Finland. When Finland became the target of a massive Soviet attack in 1940 during the Winter War (1939–1940), Granit sought refuge – and peaceful surroundings for his studies and research work – in the neighbouring capital of Sweden, Stockholm, at the age of 40.

In the next year, 1941, Granit also received Swedish citizenship, which made it possible for him to go on with his work and live without having to worry about the war, which lasted until 1945 in Finland. Granit remained a patriotic Finn throughout his life. After the Finnish-Russian Wars, Granit kept homes both in Finland and Sweden.

Granit was professor of neurophysiology at the Karolinska Institutet from 1946 to his retirement in 1967.

Granit said that his Nobel prize "belongs fifty-fifty to Finland and Sweden".

References

  1. ↑ Grillner, S. (1995). "Ragnar Granit. 30 October 1900—11 March 1991". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 41: 184–126. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1995.0012.
  2. ↑ Raju, T. N. (1999). "The Nobel Chronicles". The Lancet 354 (9178): 605–779. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)77968-X. PMID 10470741.
    Shampo, M. A.; Kyle, R. A. (1998). "Ragnar Granit—Nobel Laureate in Medicine". Mayo Clinic proceedings. Mayo Clinic 73 (11): 1082. doi:10.4065/73.11.1082. PMID 9818044.
    Dowling, J. E.; Ratliff, F. (1967). "Nobel Prize: Three Named for Medicine, Physiology Award". Science 158 (3800): 468–473. doi:10.1126/science.158.3800.468. PMID 4860394.
  3. ↑ Kernell, D. (2000). "Ragnar Granit 100 Years – Memories and Reflections". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences 9 (3): 280–285. doi:10.1076/jhin.9.3.280.1791. PMID 11232369.
    Noguera Palau, J. J. (2000). "Ragnar Granit. Helsinki (1900–1991)". Archivos de la Sociedad Espanola de Oftalmologia 75 (4): 293–294. PMID 11151162.
    Bouman, H. D. (1968). "Ragnar Granit, M.D., Ph.D". American journal of physical medicine 47 (1): 1. PMID 4868641.

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