Nobel Prize Recipient. Camillo Golgi received the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded jointly with Santiago Ramón y Cajal. According to the Nobel Prize committee, the covet award was given "in recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system." His most important medical contribution was a revolutionary method of staining individual nerve and cell structures, which is referred to as the “black reaction”. Golgi and Cajal shared the same passion for science and dedication to research, but their personalities were very different to the point that their Nobel lecture contraindicated each other on some points. This method uses a weak solution of silver nitrate and is particularly valuable in tracing the processes and most delicate ramifications of cells. This is called Golgi's method or Golgi Straining. The actual date of this discovery was not documented but he spend his life time attempting to improve on this method. Born in the old part of an Italian mountain village, his father was a physician there for twenty years. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia, graduating in 1865. In 1868 he wrote a thesis on the etiology of mental disorders to obtain his MD degree. He accepted a post at the Hospital of St. Matteo in Pavia. While at the university and the hospital, he had the opportunity to work along side of Dr. Giulio Bizzozero, who was noted for his pioneer research on human blood and was credited with the coining of the term platelets. From Bizzozeno, he learned research techniques and started investigating the causes of Malaria, thus was credited in discovering three forms of the parasite and three fevers. In 1872 he accepted the post of Chief Medical Officer at the Hospital for the Chronically Sick at Abbiategrasso for financial security. He converted an old kitchen into his laboratory and began to study the human nervous system. He returned to the University of Pavia as Extraordinary Professor of Histology and later in 1881 he was appointed to the Chairman for General Pathology. Golgi studied kidney function during 1882 to 1889 and published his observations. He returned to Pavia to work at St. Matteo. In 1890 after prolonged studies, he found a way of photographing the most characteristic phases of Malaria, which he had found years earlier. He never practiced medicine but did research and was an excellent teacher to anyone who came to his laboratory. When World War I started, he was an elderly man but assumed the responsibility for a Military Hospital in Pavia, treating the wounded. Considered one of the greatest neuoscientist of his era, several anatomy and physiology structures are named in his honor, including Golgi apparatus, the Golgi tendon organ, parts of the brain, and the Golgi tendon reflex. Besides the Nobel Prize, the Historical Museum at the University of Pavia dedicated a hall to Golgi, where more than 80 certificates of honorary degrees, diplomas and awards are exhibited. A full-size statue of him is on campus at the university. In 1913 he became foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. A memorial plaque is on his birthplace home and a bust of him is in the village. He married Dr. Bizzozero's niece, Donn Lina. The couple did not have any children, but adopted his niece. He retired in 1918 and continued to research in his private laboratory until 1923.