Lord Edgar Douglas Adrian, noted Cambridge University physiologist, won renown for his research on the functions of the brain and the nervous system. With Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, he received the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1932 in recognition of his work on the role of neurons in the stimulation of muscles and sense organs. Adrian's research also made possible the development of electroencephalography, or the measurement of electrical activity in the brain.

Born in London, Adrian was the son of Flora Lavinia Barton and Alfred Douglas Adrian. Adrian attended London's Westminster School and in 1908, won a science scholarship that opened the doors of Cambridge University's Trinity College to him. Besides taking courses in other natural sciences, he studied physiology under the direction of the physiologist Keith Lucas. Lucas was researching the reactions of muscles and nerves to electrical stimulation. When Adrian joined in this pursuit, he...