Ragnar Granit Society

Professor Ragnar Granit was born on the 30th of October 1900 at Riihimäki, but his official birthplace is Helsinge (a suburb of Helsinki) since his parents lived permanently there. His secondary school was the Swedish Normallyceum in Helsinki. He studied medicine at the University of Helsinki and received a doctoral degree from there in 1926. He was appointed a professor of physiology at the University of Helsinki for 1937-1940.

In 1940 he was invited to the Caroline Institute at Stockholm. There he was appointed the director of the Nobelinstitute for Neurophysiology. In 1945 he was appointed a professor of physiology. He retired in 1967. Thereafter in the same year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Haldan K. Hartline and George Wald. The Prize was awarded from that work which he had made at the Institute of Physiology of the University of Helsinki before moving to Sweden. He could not be awarded earlier because he was due to his professorship at the Caroline Institute, a member of the Nobel Committee.

Professor Ragnar Granit was deceased on the 12th of March 1991. He is buried in Korpo, south-western archipelago of Finland, from where his family is.