Ramón y Cajal, on a silver coin

Pamplona (EFE).- The Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre–Real Casa de la Moneda has joined the celebration of the “Ramón y Cajal Research Year” with the issuance of a collector’s coin from the Nobel Prize in Navarra.

The coin, 925 thousandths of silver and 4 centimeters in diameter, has a face value of 10 euros and a sale price of 60 plus VAT. 7,000 pieces have been minted.

Its presentation took place at the Government Delegation in Navarra in an act that was attended by President María Chivite; the delegate José Luis Arasti; and the general director of the Fábrica de la Moneda, Isabel Valldecabres.

The initiative is part of the “Ramón y Cajal Research Year”, which began in 2022 and will end in 2025, and with which the Government of Spain wants to commemorate the most important scientific personality in the country’s history, thus constituting a event of public interest.

Throughout this time, both Arasti and Chivite have said, numerous activities will take place that will recognize and honor their figure and their discoveries related to neuroscience.

Ramón y Cajal, a benchmark for science

And they have recalled that he won the Nobel Prize for the structure of the nervous system and the role of neurons, advances for which he continues to be “a benchmark” for science, Chivite specified.

The president stressed that Ramón y Cajal is “an exceptional figure” and his work has “contributed to making life better”, for which reason the people of Navarre feel “proud that he is part of our history and our heritage”.

He has also valued the curiosity of the Nobel Prize for “learning, knowing and experimenting to advance” and in this regard the Government delegate recalled that sometimes “the only proof of his observations” were the drawings he made, since he was not only a researcher but also “an artist.”

The face of the Nobel and some scientific drawings on the coin

For this reason, as Valldecabres explained, the Royal Mint has chosen the face of the Nobel Prize winner along with one of his scientific drawings as the image on the reverse of the coin (on the obverse is King Felipe VI).

For the Government, Ramón y Cajal is still today the most cited author in current neuroscience works for revolutionary theories that marked a before and after in the study of the nervous system, to the point that they changed the way of interpreting the brain human and its hypotheses about its functioning have been fundamental for the development of artificial intelligence and artificial neural networks.

“A universal figure” whose currency “has been worked on with great enthusiasm”, said Valldecabres, who congratulated himself on coming to Navarra to present it to give it “specific recognition”.