Pflügers Archiv and the advent of modern electrophysiology. From the first action potential to patch clamp.

This short review recollects the many essential milestones in electrophysiology that were published in Pflügers Archiv. These involve the first measurement of an action potential by J. Bernstein, the requirement of Na+ for the generation of excitation, the prediction of a lipoid membrane surrounding cells by E. Overton, the physical explanation of the resting membrane potential by J. Bernstein, the first detailed description of the conductance properties of excitable tissues by L. Hermann, and more recently the publication of the patch-clamp method by E. Neher and B. Sakmann.