Haldan Keffer Hartline (1903–1983) was an American physiologist renowned for his groundbreaking research on the physiology of vision. Born in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Hartline earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University.

Hartline’s most significant contributions came from his studies on the nervous system’s role in vision. In the 1930s, he conducted pioneering experiments on the visual system of horseshoe crabs, which led to the discovery of how individual nerve cells, or neurons, respond to light stimuli. Through his research, Hartline elucidated fundamental principles of neural coding in vision, revealing how visual information is processed and transmitted by the nervous system.

For his pioneering work, Hartline was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967, shared with George Wald and Ragnar Granit, for their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye. Hartline’s research laid the groundwork for our understanding of vision and sensory processing, shaping the field of neuroscience.

Haldan Keffer Hartline Quotes

1. “Alfred Nobel was much concerned, as are we all, with the tangible benefits we hope for and expect from physiological and medical research, and the Faculty of the Caroline Institute has ever been alert to recognize practical benefits.”
— Haldan Keffer Hartline

2. “But what is more, if we have succeeded in adding to the basic understanding of our universe and ourselves, we will have made a contribution to the totality of human culture.”
— Haldan Keffer Hartline

3. “Scientists care deeply about their place in that culture, and their contribution to it.”
— Haldan Keffer Hartline