SANTIAGO RAMÓN Y CAJAL Y LA LITERATURA DE FICCIÓN Los cuentos de vacaciones y su valor pedagógico

Abstract

Santiago Ramón y Cajal, father of neuroscience, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1906 for his neural theory. Besides being a great histologist, researcher, and teacher, he showed interest in photography, philosophy, astronomy, chess, and hypnosis. He wrote very relevant scientific and biographical works as well as his Vacation stories. Five science fiction tales, five short stories with an educational purpose that mix scientific concepts, fiction, and some irony, and where microscopy and microbiology are always present. These stories raise difficult social or moral dilemmas that are often motivated by advances in science or an incorrect scientific education of the population. Cajal sought to improve that education and banish false beliefs and superstitions.