Elwood Henneman

Elwood Henneman (born 1915 in Washington, DC - † February 22, 1996 ) was an American neurophysiologist . Henneman received his bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1937. In 1943 he finished his medical studies at McGill University in Montreal.

After a research stay at Johns Hopkins University , he and his colleague Vernon Mountcastle were able to show that the body with its limbs is represented in the cerebral cortex (ventrolateral thalamus) ( homunculus ). Further research at the Royal Victorian Hospital and the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute in Chicago followed. There he made one of his most important discoveries. He was able to prove that the drug mephenesin inhibits interneurons and therefore leads to muscle relaxation. This knowledge was helpful in the development of tranquilizers.

Henneman's description of the motor neuron was also of great importance to the scientific community . He summed up the results of his experiments in 1957 under the eponymous "Henneman size principle" ( Hennemansches principle ) together, their size will be recruited after the motor neurons based.

In 1971, Henneman became chairman of the Department of Physiology at Harvard University . He held this position until his retirement in 1984. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.

Elwood Henneman died on 1996 of circulatory failure at the age of 80.

literature

• Hans Peter Clamann: Elwood Henneman and the Size Principle . Journal of the history of the neurosciences. Vol. 11, no.4 (Dec. 2002) p. 420-421.