To celebrate the 127th birthday of passed neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, MD, Google’s animated Doodle illustrates his Montreal procedure, according to CNet.
Here are five takeaways:
1. Dr. Penfield is remembered for his working mapping various functions of the brain in addition to his research on neural stimulation. He pioneered the understanding of hallucinations, illusions and déjà vu.
2. The Montreal procedure treated patients with epilepsy. Dr. Penfield designed the procedure to destroy nerve cells in the brain where seizures developed.
3. Dr. Penfield is one of the first to use electric probes to stimulate active parts of a patient’s brain. This allowed him to read patients’ responses and more accurately perform brain surgeries.
4. He passed away in 1976 at the age of 85 due to abdominal cancer.