Santiago Saw Things Differently: Santiago Ramón Y Cajal, Artist, Doctor, Father of Neuroscience

In an exquisitely illustrated nonfiction picture book about the childhood and discoveries of the “father of neuroscience,” science and art—together—work wonders.

Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s father, the village doctor, wants Santiago to be a doctor. He discourages his willful son’s love and aptitude for art. But drawing and painting are as necessary to Santiago as breathing, so when his father confiscates his art supplies, the boy finds a way to draw in secret. He draws on doors, gates, and walls, and to the neighbors, his drawings are a nuisance. But Santiago sees things differently. He’s an artist and always will be, even after he grows up and becomes a doctor. And art helps him discover what no one else could: branching connections within the nervous system.

Debut author Christine Iverson’s vivid text evokes Santiago’s pioneering nature, while Luciano Lozano’s stunning visual narrative incorporates Santiago’s actual art, including remarkable drawings of neural pathways. A self-portrait, facts about neurons, and the science behind Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s 1906 Nobel Prize for Medicine round out this brilliant account of a boy who shaped his scientific fate as an artist.