Herbert S. Gasser

Facts

Herbert Spencer Gasser

Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.

Herbert Spencer Gasser
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1944

Born: 5 July 1888, Platteville, WI, USA

Died: 11 May 1963, New York, NY, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York, NY, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries relating to the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres."

Prize share: 1/2

Work

Our bodily functions are governed by our nervous system, which consists of many nerve cells with extensions, or nerve fibers, that form a system of connections between the brain and spinal cord and the rest of the body. Signals in the nervous system are conveyed by weak electrical currents and by chemical substances. During the 1920s Herbert Gasser and Joseph Erlanger studied the properties and distribution of nerve fibers. They divided nerve fibers into two different types with different thicknesses and showed that the thicker fibers convey nerve impulses faster.

To cite this section
MLA style: Herbert S. Gasser – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2019. Thu. 17 Oct 2019. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1944/gasser/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Learn more

Nobel Prizes 2019

Fifteen laureates have been awarded this year, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.

Their work and discoveries range from how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen to our ability to fight global poverty.

See them all presented here.
2019 Nobel Laureates

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.