As I noted in lab meeting, I was somewhat captured by the fact that James and Cajal were doing their seminal works at around the same historical time. I don’t know as much about Cajal as maybe I should, so I was a bit surprised by this bit of bio (from Wikipedia):

The son of physician and anatomy lecturer Justo Ramón and Antonia Cajal, Ramón y Cajal was born of Aragonese parents in Petilla de Aragón in Navarre, Spain. As a child he was transferred between many different schools because of his poor behavior and anti-authoritarian attitude. An extreme example of his precociousness and rebelliousness is his imprisonment at the age of eleven for destroying the town gate with a homemade cannon. He was an avid painter, artist, and gymnast. He worked for a time as a shoemaker and barber, and was well known for his pugnacious attitude.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Ram%C3%B3n_y_Cajal

Imprisoned in the 1860s at age 11 for blowing up the town gate with a homemade cannon? There’s some quality anti-authoritarianism.