This project aims to produce a narrative history of research on synaptic transmission from the early 1890s through the present, the period which saw research from a wide spectrum of life sciences coalesce into the amalgam that is contemporary neuroscience. The main purpose of the study is to describe who did what, when and how, while a secondary purpose is to consider the nature of scientific knowledge and how it is formed from the diverse, conflicting and fallible reports that appear in print. The study will rely mainly on close examination of published material, augmented by formal, taped interviews with scientists and some examination of other documents.
