Adrian, Edgar Douglas

British neurologist and neurophysiologist, who established the ‘all-or-none’ character of the propagated nervous impulse earned him the Nobel Price for Physiology or Medicine in 1932. He was a pioneer in recording bioelectrical events in the nervous system. He received the OM in 1942 and was knighted baron of Cambridge in 1955.

Edgar Douglas Adrian was born on November 30 1889 in London to Alfred Douglas Adrian, a legal adviser to the British Local Government Board.

Adrian graduated in medicine from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1915. After serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War 1, he returned to Cambridge University, becoming professor of physiology (1937) until 1951 when he was elected master of Trinity College Cambridge (1951-65), and ultimately chancellor of the University (1968-75).

Adrian made the key discovery of nerve impulses, even though he only had access to primitive instruments.

Combining the amplifying apparatus pioneered by Herbert Gasser with a capillary electrometer, Adrian developed a sensitive and rapid means of detecting impulses.

In 1934 Adrian turned his attention to the electrical activity of the brain, recording and analyzing the various wave patterns and contributing greatly to the newly founded technique of electroencephalography. Adrian was president of the Royal Society (1950-55).

He wrote three books,
*The Basis of Sensation (1927)
*The Mechanism of Nervous (1932)
*Action Physical background of Perception (1947)

He died on August 4, 1977 and is buried at Trinity College.
Adrian, Edgar Douglas

Cambridge University