Erlanger, Joseph (1874–1965), a United States physiologist. For work on the functions of the nerve threads, Erlanger shared with Herbert Spencer Gasser the 1944 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. Erlanger was born in San Francisco and was educated at the University of California and at Johns Hopkins University. He was professor of physiology at the University of Wisconsin (1906–10) and at Washington University, St. Louis (1910–46).