Everything about Wilder Penfield totally explained
Wilder Graves Penfield,
OM,
CC,
CMG,
MD,
FRS (
January 25/
26,
1891 –
April 5,
1976) was an American-born
Canadian neurosurgeon.
Early life
He was born in
Spokane, Washington, and studied at
Princeton University before winning a
Rhodes Scholarship to
Oxford University, where he studied
neuropathology under Sir
Charles Scott Sherrington. He obtained his medical degree from
Johns Hopkins University. He spent several years training at Oxford, where he met
William Osler. He also studied in
Spain,
Germany, and
New York.
Neural stimulation
Penfield was a groundbreaking researcher and highly original surgeon. With his colleague,
Herbert Jasper, he invented the
Montreal procedure, in which he treated patients with severe
epilepsy by destroying nerve cells in the
brain where the seizures originated. Before operating, he stimulated the brain with electrical probes while the patients were conscious on the operating table (under only
local anesthesia), and observed their responses. In this way he could more accurately target the areas of the brain responsible, reducing the
side-effects of the surgery.
This technique also allowed him to create maps of the
sensory and
motor cortices of the brain (see
cortical homunculus) showing their connections to the various limbs and organs of the body. These maps are still used today, practically unaltered. Along with
Herbert Jasper, he published this work in 1951 (2nd ed., 1954) as the landmark
Epilepsy and the Functional Anatomy of the Human Brain. This work contributed a great deal to understanding the
lateralization of brain function.
Penfield reported that stimulation of the
temporal lobes could lead to vivid recall of memories. This created the common misconception that the brain continuously "records" experiences in perfect detail, although these memories are not available to conscious recall. In reality, however, the reported episodes of recall occurred in less than five percent of his patients, and these results have not been replicated by modern surgeons. His development of the neurosurgical technique that produced the less injurious
meningo-cerebral scar became widely accepted in the field of neurosurgery, where the "Penfield dissector" is still in daily use.
Later life
During his life he was called "the greatest living Canadian." He devoted much thinking to the functionings of the mind, and continued until his death to contemplate whether there was any scientific basis for the existence of the human soul.
After taking surgical apprenticeship under
Harvey Cushing, he obtained a position at the
Neurological Institute of New York, where he carried out his first solo operations against
epilepsy. While in New York, he met
David Rockefeller, who desired to endow an institute where Penfield could study the surgical treatment of epilepsy. However, academic politics among the New York neurologists prevented the establishment of this institute in New York; subsequently, Penfield moved to
Montreal in
1928. There, Penfield taught at
McGill University and the
Royal Victoria hospital, becoming the city's first neurosurgeon.
In 1934 he founded and became the first Director of
McGill University's world-famous
Montreal Neurological Institute and the associated
Montreal Neurological Hospital
, which was established with funding from the
Rockefeller Foundation. He retired in
1960 and turned his attention to writing, producing a novel as well as his autobiography,
No Man Alone. In
1967 he was made a Companion of the
Order of Canada. In
1994 he was inducted into the
Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Much of his archival material is housed at the
Osler Library of
McGill University.
In his later years, Penfield dedicated himself to the public interest, particularly in support of university education. With his friends
Governor-General Georges Vanier and Mrs.
Pauline Vanier, née Archer, he co-founded the Vanier Institute of the Family, which Penfield helped found "to promote and guide education in the home -- man's first classroom." He was also an early proponent of bilingualism from childhood onward.
Avenue Docteur-Penfield, on the slope of
Mount Royal in Montreal, was named in Penfield's honour on
October 5,
1978. Part of this avenue borders McGill's campus and actually intersects with Promenade Sir-William-Osler - to the amusement of many medical historians who can say "meet me at Osler and Penfield".
Pop culture references
Wilder Penfield was the subject of an iconic
Heritage Minute, dramatizing his development of the Montreal procedure. His epileptic patient's cry when he stimulates the seizure-producing part of her brain ("I can smell burned toast!") is a cultural touchstone.
In
science fiction author
Philip K. Dick's masterpiece
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, characters use a household device called a Penfield Mood Organ to dial up emotions on demand.
Author
J.G. Ballard's novel
Super-Cannes has a main character who is a manipulative psychiatrist named Wilder Penrose.
Shirow Masamune's anime series
Ghost Hound makes several references to Dr. Penfield and his studies.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Wilder Penfield'.
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