• DOI:10.1007/s00415-008-0915-6
• Corpus ID: 36953396

Wilder Penfield (1891–1976)

@article{DrDTodmanMA2008WilderP,
  title={Wilder Penfield (1891–1976)},
  author={MB BS Fracp Frcp Dr.  D.  Todman  MA},
  journal={Journal of Neurology},
  year={2008},
  volume={255},
  pages={1104-1105}
}

• M. Dr. D. Todman MA
• Published 2008
• Medicine
• Journal of Neurology

Wilder Penfield was a leading neurosurgeon of the twentieth century who pioneered the incorporation of neurophysiological principles in the practice of neurosurgery. He is best known for the surgical procedure for intractable epilepsy which he developed with Herbert Jasper and which became known as the Montreal procedure. Through his leadership and drive he secured funds to establish the Montreal Neurological Institute and was its first director from 1934–1960. In his long career he made original observations and discoveries in neurohistology, neurophysiology, epilepsy and the functional organization of the cerebral cortex [1]. Wilder Penfield was born in Spokane, Washington, but moved to Hudson, Wisconsin, with his mother after the failure of his father’s medical practice. When he was thirteen, in 1904 his mother heard of the newly established Rhodes scholarship and confidently announced its suitability for her young son. He studied philosophy at Princeton University but in his second year was influenced by Professor Edwin Conklin’s biology lectures and decided on a career in medicine. At Princeton he excelled academically and although not a natural sportsman immersed himself in wrestling and football to secure the Rhodes scholarship in 1914 [2]. Commencing in January 1915 as a member of Merton College he enrolled in the first mammalian physiology course of Professor Charles Sherrington. Sherrington had recently arrived from Liverpool where as Holt Professor of physiology he established the reputation as the leading authority on the physiology of the central nervous system. Penfield undertook research on the Golgi apparatus and the decerebrate preparation in Sherrington’s laboratory and completed the honours course in two years. His BSc thesis examined the Golgi apparatus in anterior horn cells using the technique of Cajal [3]. Studies on the spinal reflexes in the decerebrate cat were published in the journal Brain [4]. This research work was foundational to Penfield’s later career as a neurosurgeon who was expert in neurocytology and neurophysiology or – as he described himself – ‘a neurologist in action’. At Oxford Penfield was mentored by Sir William Osler, expatriate Canadian and Regius professor of medicine. Osler invited him on medical consultations in hospitals throughout England. When Penfield was wounded in a torpedo attack on his ship crossing the channel to France in December 1915 Osler cared for him at his home during convalescence. After two years at Oxford Penfield returned to the United States and completed the clinical years of his training at Johns Hopkins mediReceived: 2 October 2007 Received in revised form: 6 October 2007 Accepted: 21 October 2007 Published online: 30 May 2008