Joseph Erlanger was an American physiologist whose pioneering work with his collaborator, Herbert Spencer Gasser, helped to advance the field of neurophysiology. For their work on "the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibers" Erlanger and Gasser shared the 1944 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology. The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Erlanger and Gasser also recognized their roles in developing the most basic tool in modern neurophysiology: the amplifier with cathode-ray oscilloscope. The prize culminated for Erlanger a distinguished career in medical education and physiological research.

Erlanger was born on January 5, 1874 in San Francisco, California, the sixth of seven children, to Herman Erlanger and Sarah Galinger, both immigrants from Southern Germany.

In 1889, Joseph Erlanger entered the classical Latin curriculum at the San Francisco Boys' High School. After graduating in 1891, he began studies in the College of Chemistry at the University of California at Berkeley, receiving a bachelor's...