Named after Joseph Erlanger - American physiologist, Nobel Prize winner 1944 (1874-1965).
Erlanger is a very deep lunar impact crater that lies close to the Northern pole. Due to its position near the north pole of the moon sunlight only rarely falls on the bottom, and it is hoped that ice from comet impacts may have accumulated here. The crater was named by the International Astronometrical Union on January 22, 2009, after the American physiologist and 1944 Nobel Prize winner Joseph Erlanger. (wikipedia entry)
A crater is a circular depression likely created by an impact event. On the Moon they are named after deceased scientists, polar explorers, astronauts or cosmonauts.