Samuel Gelfan

Key takeaways

Samuel Gelfan belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reproduce the core statement of Samuel Gelfan from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Samuel Gelfan (16 January 1903, Russian Empire – 16 March 1975, Ossining, New York) was an American professor of neurophysiology. He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1932–1933.

Education and career Gelfan graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) with A.B. in 1925 and Ph.D. in 1927. There he was a teaching fellow in biology from 1925 to 1927. He was from 1928 to 1930 a Donnelly Research Fellow at the University of Chicago and from 1930 to 1932 an assistant professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Alberta. For the academic year 1932–1933 he investigated muscle fibre physiology with Edgar D. Adrian at the University of Cambridge. During the late 1930s Gelfan was a physiologist at the College of Medicine of the University of Illinois at Chicago. At the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons he was an associate professor of physiology before he joined the faculty of the Yale School of Medicine. From 1946 to 1952 he was at Yale, where he became director of the aeromedical unit. There he and his colleagues studied the mammalian response to high‐altitude flight and explosive decompression. He was a professor of neurophysiology in the department of neurology and neurosurgery of the New York Medical College (NYMC) from 1952 to 1973, when he retired. At NYMC he did research on spinal cord physiology with grants from the National Institutes of Health. Gelfan was the author or co-author of articles published in the American Journal of Physiology, Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, Science, and Nature.

Family Gelfan married Harriet Lucy Moore (1912–2013) on November 29, 1943. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1932 and then studied in the Soviet Union. During the Spanish Civil War she donated a touring car to the Loyalists. During the 1950s she was subpoenaed several times to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Eastland Committee. She was an ardent supporter of civil rights and other leftwing causes well into her nineties. Samuel and Harriet Gelfan had four daughters and two sons. When she died at age 101 she was survived by her six children and six grandchildren.

Selected publications Bell, Irving R.; Gelfan, Samuel (January 1933). "The Anesthetic Action of Divinyl Oxide on Humans". Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. 47 (1): 1–3. (See divinyl ether.) Adrian, E. D.; Gelfan, S. (1933). "Rhythmic activity in skeletal muscle fibres". The Journal of Physiology. 78 (3): 271–287. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1933.sp003002. PMC 1394910. PMID 16994419. Gelfan, Samuel (1933). "The submaximal responses of the single muscle fibre". The Journal of Physiology. 80 (3): 285–295. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1933.sp003089. ISSN 0022-3751. PMC 1394122. PMID 16994501. Gelfan, Samuel (1935). "The Effect of Viosterol Upon Oxygen Consumption of Frog's Muscle". American Journal of Physiology. Legacy Content. 113 (2): 464–466. doi:10.1152/ajplegacy.1935.113.2.464. Chang, H.-T.; Margaria, R.; Gelfan, S. (1950). "Pressure Changes and Barotrauma Resulting from Decompression and Recompression in the Middle Ear of Monkeys". Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery. 51 (3): 378–399. doi:10.1001/archotol.1950.00700020400009. Gelfan, Samuel; Nims, Leslie F.; Livingston, Robert B. (1950). "Explosive Decompression at High Altitude". American Journal of Physiology. Legacy Content. 162 (1): 37–53. doi:10.1152/ajplegacy.1950.162.1.37. PMID 15432669. Gelfan, Samuel; Tarlov, I. M. (1955). "Differential Vulnerability of Spinal Cord Structures to Anoxia". Journal of Neurophysiology. 18 (2): 170–188. doi:10.1152/jn.1955.18.2.170. PMID 14354454. Gelfan, Samuel; Tarlov, I. M. (1956). "Physiology of Spinal Cord, Nerve Root and Peripheral Nerve Compression". American Journal of Physiology. Legacy Content. 185 (1): 217–229. doi:10.1152/ajplegacy.1956.185.1.217. PMID 13313775. Gelfan, S.; Tarlov, I. M. (1959). "Interneurones and rigidity of spinal origin". The Journal of Physiology. 146 (3): 594–617. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1959.sp006214. PMC 1357053. PMID 13665681. Gelfan, S.; Tarlov, I. M. (1963). "Altered neuron population in L7 segment of dogs with experimental hind-limb rigidity". American Journal of Physiology. Legacy Content. 205 (3): 606–616. doi:10.1152/ajplegacy.1963.205.3.606. PMID 14065918. Gelfan, Samuel (1963). "Neurone and Synapse Populations in the Spinal Cord: Indication of Role in Total Integration". Nature. 198 (4876): 162–163. Bibcode:1963Natur.198..162G. doi:10.1038/198162a0. PMID 13947051. S2CID 4154394. Gelfan, Samuel; Rapisarda, A. F. (1964). "Synaptic density on spinal neurons of normal dogs and dogs with experimental hind-limb rigidity". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 123: 73–95. doi:10.1002/cne.901230108. PMID 14199270. S2CID 37788855. Gelfan, S. (1964). "Neuronal Interdependence". Organization of the Spinal Cord. Progress in Brain Research. Vol. 11. pp. 238–260. doi:10.1016/S0079-6123(08)64051-0. ISBN 9780444533197. PMID 14300481. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Gelfan, S. (1966). "Altered spinal motoneurons in dogs with experimental hind-lamb rigidity". Journal of Neurophysiology. 29 (4): 583–611. doi:10.1152/jn.1966.29.4.583. PMID 5966426. Gelfan, Samuel; Carter, Sylvester (1967). "Muscle sense in man". Experimental Neurology. 18 (4): 469–473. doi:10.1016/0014-4886(67)90064-7. PMID 6036943. Gelfan, Samuel; Kao, Grace; Ruchkin, Daniel S. (1970). "The dendritic tree of spinal neurons". The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 139 (4): 385–411. doi:10.1002/cne.901390402. PMID 4195698. S2CID 2638630.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Samuel Gelfan

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Samuel Gelfan claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Samuel Gelfan before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Samuel Gelfan ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Samuel Gelfan

In research: Samuel Gelfan appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Samuel Gelfan in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Samuel Gelfan is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1903 births, 1975 deaths, American physiologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Samuel Gelfan outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Samuel Gelfan in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Samuel Gelfan in simple terms?

Samuel Gelfan (16 January 1903, Russian Empire – 16 March 1975, Ossining, New York) was an American professor of neurophysiology. He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1932–1933.

Why does Samuel Gelfan matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Samuel Gelfan?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Samuel Gelfan.