Birth of the Sliding Filament Model of Muscular Contraction: Proposal

The offi cial date of the “birth” of the sliding fi lament theory of muscular contraction is May 22, 1954. On this day the journal Nature published two papers consecutively under the general title: “Structural Changes in Muscle During Contraction”. The fi rst paper by Andrew F. Huxley 1 and Dr. Rolf Niedergerke was entitled: “Interference microscopy of living muscle fi bres”. The second paper by Dr. Hugh Huxley and Dr. Jean Hanson was entitled: “Changes in the cross-striations of muscle during contraction and stretch and their structural interpretation”. But the story of sliding fi laments begins before May 22, 1954. In order to understand and appreciate the experiments that were done and why they were done, it is necessary to review the scientifi c background of each of the investigators.