Ragnar Arthur Granit (30 October 1900 – 12 March 1991) was a Finnish-Swedish scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967 along with Haldan Keffer Hartline and

George Wald George Wald (November 18, 1906 – April 12, 1997) was an American scientist who studied pigments in the retina. He won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit. In 1970, Wald pred ...

"for their discoveries concerning the primary

physiological Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and chemical visual processes in the

eye Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conv ...

Early life and education

Ragnar Arthur Granit was born on 30 October 1900 in Riihimäki, Finland, at the time part of the Russian Empire, into a

Swedish-speaking Finnish The Swedish-speaking population of Finland (whose members are called by many names; fi, suomenruotsalainen) can be used as an attribute., group=Note—see #Terminology, below; sv, finlandssvenskar; fi, suomenruotsalaiset) is a linguistic mi ...

family. Granit was raised in Oulunkylä, a suburb of the Finnish capital of Helsinki, and attended the Svenska normallyceum in Helsinki. Granit graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Helsinki in 1927.

Career and research

In 1940, when Finland became the target of a massive Soviet attack during the Winter War, Granit sought refuge – and peaceful surroundings for his studies and research work – in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, the capital of neighbouring

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, at the age of 40. In 1941, Granit received Swedish citizenship, which made it possible for him to live and continue with his work without having to worry about the Continuation War, which lasted in Finland until 1945. Granit was proud of his Finnish-Swedish roots and remained a patriotic Finnish-Swede throughout his life, maintaining homes in both in Finland and Sweden after the Moscow Armistice ended the Continuation War and secured Finnish independence. Granit was professor of neurophysiology at the Karolinska Institute from 1946 to his retirement in 1967.

Awards and honors

In 1960, Granit was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS). In 1967 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Granit said that he was a "fifty-fifty" Finnish and Swedish Nobel laureate.Ragnar Granit
in the ''

National Biography of Finland ''Suomen kansallisbiografia'' ( en, The National Biography of Finland) is a collection of more than 6,000 biographies of individuals and families who have made important contributions to the development of Finnish society. Granit-1967-Nobel

Death

Granit died on 12 March 1991 in Stockholm at the age of 90. Granit and his wife Marguerite, who died the same year, were buried in a church cemetery on the Finnish island of Korpo.

References

External links

* including the Nobel Lecture December 12, 1967 ''The Development of Retinal Neurophysiology'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Granit, Ragnar 1900 births 1991 deaths Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine Finnish Nobel laureates Swedish Nobel laureates Karolinska Institute faculty Foreign Members of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences People from Vantaa Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish neuroscientists Swedish neuroscientists Finnish physiologists Finnish emigrants to Sweden 20th-century Finnish physicians Vitamin researchers