History Of Neuroscience

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Milestones in Neuroscience Research
0 to 1500 AD | 1500 to 1600 AD | 1600 to 1700 AD | 1700 to 1800 AD

1800 to 1850 AD | 1850 to 1900 AD | 1900 to 1950 AD | 1950 to present

The following dates and events were gathered from several sources. These events are certainly not all of the important events to take place in neuroscience...just some of the ones that I have selected.

4000 B.C. to 0 A.D

ca. 4000 B.C. - Euphoriant effect of poppy plant reported in Sumerian records ca. 4000 B.C. - Clay tablets from Mesopotamia discuss how to use alcohol to dilute medicine ca. 2700 B.C. - Shen Nung originates acupuncture ca. 1700 B.C. - Edwin Smith surgical papyrus written. First written record about the nervous system ca. 1400-1200 B.C. - Ayuvedic system of Hindu medicine develops ca. 600 B.C. - Indian physician Sushruta describes surgery for cataracts in Sushruta Samhita ca. 500 B.C. - Alcmaion of Crotona dissects sensory nerves ca. 500 B.C. - Alcmaion of Crotona describes the optic nerve ca. 500 B.C. - Empedocles suggests that "visual rays" cause sight 460-379 B.C. - Hippocrates discusses epilepsy as a disturbance of the brain 460-379 B.C. - Hippocrates states that the brain is involved with sensation and is the seat of intelligence 387 B.C. - Plato teaches at Athens. Believes brain is seat of mental process 335 B.C. - Aristotle writes about sleep; believes heart is seat of mental process 335-280 B.C. - Herophilus (the "Father of Anatomy"); believes ventricles are seat of human intelligence 280 B.C. - Erasistratus of Chios notes divisions of the brain		 Hippocrates

Image courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston

0 A.D. to 1500

177 - Galen lecture On the Brain ca. 100 - Marinus describes the tenth cranial nerve ca. 100 - Rufus of Ephesus describes and names the optic chiasm ca. 390 - Nemesius develops the doctrine of the ventricular localization of all mental functions ca. 900 - Rhazes describes seven cranial nerves and 31 spinal nerves in Kitab al-Hawi Fi Al Tibb ca. 1000 - Ammar ibn Ali of Mosul extracts cataract from the eye ca. 1000 - Alhazen compares the eye to a camera-like device ca. 1000 - Al-Zahrawi (also known as Abulcasis or Albucasis) describes several surgical treatments for neurological disorders 1021 - Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen) publishes Book of Optics 1025 - Avicenna writes about vision and the eye in The Canon of Medicine 1088 - Abu Ruh writes The Light of the Eyes describing several eye operations 1260 - Louis IX founds the Hopital des Quinze-Vingts, the first institution for the blind 1284 - Salvino D'Armate constructs eyeglasses 1316 - Mondino de'Luzzi writes the first European anatomy textbook (Anothomia) 1402 - St. Mary of Bethlehem Hospital is used exclusively for the mentally ill 1410 - Institution for the mentally ill established in Valencia, Spain

Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Collection

1500 - 1600

1501 - Magnus Hundt uses the word "cerebellum" to describe the posterior division of the brain in Anthropologia 1504 - Leonardo da Vinci produces wax cast of human ventricles 1536 - Nicolo Massa describes the cerebrospinal fluid 1538 - Andreas Vesalius publishes Tabulae Anatomicae 1542 - Jean Fernel publishes De naturali parte Medicinae that contains the term "physiology" for the first time 1543 - Andreas Vesalius publishes On the Workings of the Human Body 1543 - Andreas Vesalius discusses the pineal gland and draws the corpus striatum 1549 - Jason Pratensis publishes De Cerebri Morbis, an early book devoted to neurological disease 1550 - Vesalius describes hydrocephalus 1550 - Bartolomeo Eustachio describes the brain origin of the optic nerves 1558 - Giambattista della Porta describes wooden hearing aids in his book Natural Magick 1561 - Gabriele Falloppio publishes Observationes Anatomicae and describes some of the cranial nerves. Separate trochlear and abducens nerves identified 1562 - Bartolomeo Eustachio publishes The Examination of the Organ of Hearing 1564 - Giulio Cesare Aranzi coins the term hippocampus 1573 - Constanzo Varolio names the pons 1573 - Constanzo Varolio is first to cut brain starting at its base 1573 - Girolamo Mercuriali writes De nervis opticis to describe optic nerve anatomy 1583 - Felix Platter states that the lens only focuses light and that the retina is where images are formed 1583 - Georg Bartisch publishes Ophthalmodouleia: das ist Augendienst with drawings of the eye 1586 - A. Piccolomini distinguishes between cortex and white matter 1587 - Guilio Cesare Aranzi describes ventricles and hippocampus. He also demonstrates that the retina has a reversed image 1590 - Zacharias Janssen invents the compound microscope 1596 - Sir Walter Raleigh mentions arrow poison in his book Discovery of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empire of Guiana		 Leonardo Da Vinci

Andreas Vesalius

Image courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston

1600 - 1700

1601 - Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente publishes Tractatus de Oculo Visusque Organo describing the correct location of the lens relative to the iris 1604 - Johannes Kepler describes inverted retinal image 1609 - J. Casserio publishes first description of mammillary bodies 1611 - Lazarus Riverius textbook describing impairments on consciousness published 1621 - Robert Burton publishes The Anatomy of Melancholy about depression 1623 - Benito Daca de Valdes publishes the first book on vision testing and eyeglass-fitting 1627 - William Harvey demonstrates a role of the brain in frog movement 1641 - Franciscus de la Boe Sylvius describes fissure on the lateral surface of the brain (Sylvian fissure) 1644 - Giovanni Battista Odierna describes the microscopic appearance of the fly eye in L'Occhio della Mosca 1649 - Rene Descartes describes pineal as control center of body and mind 1650 - Franciscus de la Boe Sylvius describes a narrow passage between the third and fourth ventricles (the aqueduct of Sylvius) 1658 - Johann Jakof Wepfer theorizes that a broken brain blood vessel may cause apoplexy (stroke) 1661 - Thomas Willis describes a case of meningitis 1662 - Rene Descartes De homine is published (He died in 1650) 1664 - Thomas Willis publishes Cerebri anatome (in Latin) 1664 - Thomas Willis describes the eleventh cranial nerve (accessory nerve) 1664 - Thomas Willis suggests that cerebrospinal fluid is produced by the choroid plexus 1664 - Gerardus Blasius discovers and names the "arachnoid" 1664 - Jan Swammerdam causes frog muscle contraction by mechanical stimuation of nerve 1665 - Robert Hooke details his first microscope 1667 - Robert Hooke publishes Micrographia 1668 - l'Abbe Edme Mariotte discovers the blind spot 1670 - William Molins names the trochlear nerve 1671 - Franciscus de la Boe Sylvius describes the septum pellucidum 1673 - Joseph DuVerney uses experimental ablation technique in pigeons 1681 - English edition of Thomas Willis' Cerebri anatome is published 1681 - Thomas Willis coins the term Neurology 1684 - Raymond Vieussens publishes Neurographia Universalis 1684 - Raymond Vieussens uses boiling oil to harden the brain 1686 - Thomas Sydenham describes a form of chorea in children and young adults 1695 - Humphrey Ridley describes the restiform body 1695 - Humphrey Ridley publishes The Anatomy of the Brain 1696 - John Locke writes Essay Concerning Human Understanding 1697 - Joseph G. Duverney introduces the term "brachial plexus" 		Thomas Willis

Image courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston

1700 - 1800

1704 - Antonio Valsalva publishes On the Human Ear 1705 - Antonio Pacchioni describes arachnoid granulations 1709 - Domenico Mistichelli describes the pyramidal decussation 1709 - George Berkeley publishes New Theory of Vision 1717 - Antony van Leeuwenhoek describes nerve fiber in cross section 1721 - The word "anesthesia" first appears in English (in Dictionary Britannicum) 1727 - Edward Scarlett develops eyeglasses held by arms that hook over the ears 1736 - Jean Astruc coins the term reflex 1740 - Emanuel Swedenborg publishes Oeconomia regni animalis 1749 - David Hartley publishes Observations of Man, the first English work using the word "psychology" 1750 - Jacques Daviel performs the first cataract extraction on a living human eye 1752 - The Society of Friends establishes a hospital-based environment for the mentally ill in Philadelphia 1755 - J.B. Le Roy uses electroconvulsive therapy for mental illness 1760 - Arne-Charles Lorry demonstrates that damage to the cerebellum affects motor coordination 1764 - Domenico F.A. Cotugno describes spinal subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid; shows that ventricular and spinal fluids are connected 1764 - The interventricular foramen (Foramen of Monroe) is named after Alexander Monroe; it was described earlier by Vieussens 1766 - Albrecht von Haller provides scientific description of the cerebrospinal fluid 1772 - John Walsh conducts experiments on torpedo (electric) fish 1773 - John Fothergill describes trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureux, Fothergill's syndrome) 1773 - Sir Joseph Priestley discovers nitrous oxide 1774 - Franz Anton Mesmer introduces "animal magnetism" (later called hypnosis) 1776 - M.V.G. Malacarne publishes first book solely devoted to the cerebellum 1777 - Philip Meckel proposes that the inner ear is filled with fluid, not air 1778 - Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring presents the modern classification of the twelve cranial nerves 1779 - Antonius Scarpa describes Scarpa's ganglion of the vestibular system 1780 - Etienne Bonnot de Condillac publishes the first figure of "reflex action" 1781 - Felice Fontana describes the microscopic features of axoplasm from an axon 1782 - Francesco Gennari publishes work on "lineola albidior" (later known as the stripe of Gennari) 1782 - Francesco Buzzi identifies the fovea 1783 - Alexander Monro describes the foramen of Monro 1784 - Benjamin Rush writes that alcohol can be an addictive drug 1784 - Benjamin Franklin mentions bifocal eyeglasses in a letter to George Whatley 1786 - Felix Vicq d'Azyr discovers the locus coeruleus 1786 - Samuel Thomas Sommering describes the optic chiasm 1786 - Georg Joseph Beer founds the first eye hospital in Vienna 1790 - Johannes Ehrenritter describes the glossopharygeal nerve ganglion 1791 - Luigi Galvani publishes work on electrical stimulation of frog nerves 1791 - Samuel Thomas von Soemmering names the macula lutea of the retina 1792 - Giovanni Valentino Mattia Fabbroni suggests that nerve action involves both chemical and physical factors 1796 - Johann Christian Reil describes the insula (island of Reil) 1798 - John Dalton, who was red-green colorblind, provides a scientific description of color blindness 		Antony van Leeuwenhoek

Franz Anton Mesmer

Images courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston

1800 - 1850

1800 - Alessandro Volta invents the wet cell battery 1800 - Humphrey Davy synthesizes nitrous oxide 1800 - Samuel von Sommering identifies black material in the midbrain and calls it the "substantia nigra" 1801 - Thomas Young describes astigmatism 1801 - Adam Friedrich Wilhelm Serturner crystalizes opium and obtains morphine 1801 - Philippe Pinel publishes "A Treatise on Insanity" 1802 - Thomas Young suggests the three types of retinal receptors are sufficient for color vision 1808 - Franz Joseph Gall publishes work on phrenology 1809 - Johann Christian Reil uses alcohol to harden the brain 1809 - Luigi Rolando uses galvanic current to stimulate cortex 1811 - Julien Jean Legallois discovers respiratory center in medulla 1811 - Charles Bell discusses functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord 1812 - Benjamin Rush publishes Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind 1813 - Felix Vicq d'Azyr discovers the claustrum 1817 - James Parkinson publishes An Essay on the Shaking Palsy 1818 - Library of the Surgeon General's Office established (later to become the Army Medical Library and then the National Library of Medicine) 1820 - Galvanometer invented 1821 - Charles Bell describes facial paralysis ipsilateral to facial nerve lesion (Bell's palsy) 1821 - Francois Magendie discusses functional differences between dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord 1822 - Friedrich Burdach names the cingular gyrus 1822 - Friedrich Burdach distinguishes lateral and medial geniculate 1823 - Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens states that cerebellum regulates motor activity 1824 - John C. Caldwell publishes Elements of Phrenology 1824 - Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens details ablation to study behavior 1824 - F. Magendie provides first evidence of cerebellum role in equilibration 1825 - John P. Harrison first argues against phrenology 1825 - Jean-Baptiste Bouillaud presents cases of loss of speech after frontal lesions 1825 - Robert B. Todd discusses the role of the cerebral cortex in mentation, corpus striatum in movement and midbrain in emotion 1825 - Luigi Rolando describes the sulcus that separates the precentral and postcentral gyri 1826 - Johannes Muller publishes theory of "specific nerve energies" 1827 - E. Merck & Company market morphine 1832 - Justus von Liebig discovers chloral hydrate 1832 - Jean-Pierre Robiquet isolates codeine 1832 - Massachusetts establishes a "State Lunatic Hospital" for the mentally ill 1832 - Sir Charles Wheatstone invents the stereoscope 1833 - Philipp L. Geiger isolates atropine 1834 - Ernst Heinrich Weber publishes theory of "Just Noticeable Difference" or "Weber's Law" 1836 - Marc Dax reads paper on left hemisphere damage effects on speech 1836 - Gabriel Gustav Valentin identifies neuron nucleus and nucleolus 1836 - Robert Remak describes myelinated and unmyelinated axons 1836 - Charles Dickens (the novelist) describes obstructive sleep apnea 1837 - Jan Evangelista Purkyne (Purkinje) describes large cerebellar cells with many branching dendrites Purkinje cells; identifies neuron nucleus and processes 1837 - The American Physiological Society is founded 1838 - Robert Remak suggests that nerve fiber and nerve cell are joined 1838 - Theordor Schwann describes the myelin-forming cell in the peripheral nervous system ("Schwann cell") 1838 - Jean-Etienne-Dominique Esquirol publishes Des Maladies Mentales, possibly the first modern work about mental disorders 1838 - Napoleonic Code leads to the requirement of facilities for the mentally ill 1838 - Eduard Zeis publishes study about dreams in people who are blind 1839 - Theodor Schwann proposes the cell theory 1839 - C. Chevalier coins the term microtome 1839 - Francois Leuret names the Rolandic sulcus for Luigi Rolando 1840 - Filippo Pacini describes the Pacinian corpuscle 1840 - Moritz Heinrich Romberg describes a test for conscious proprioception (Romberg test) 1840 - Adolph Hannover uses chromic acid to harden nervous tissue 1840 - Jules Gabriel Francois Baillarger discusses the connections between white and gray matter of cerebral cortex 1840 - Adolphe Hannover discovers the ganglion cells of the retina 1841 - Dorothea Lynde Dix investigates brutality within mental hospitals in the United States 1842 - Benedikt Stilling is first to study spinal cord in serial sections 1842 - Crawford W. Long uses ether on man 1842 - Francois Magendie describes the median opening in the roof of the fourth ventricle (foramen of Magendie) 1843 - James Braid coins the term "hypnosis" 1844 - American Psychiatric Association founded 1844 - Robert Remak provides first illustration of 6-layered cortex 1844 - Horace Wells uses nitrous oxide during a tooth extraction 1845 - Ernst Heinrich Weber and Edward Weber discover that stimulation of the vagus nerve inhibits the heart 1846 - William Morton demonstrates ether anesthesia at Massachusetts General Hospital 1847 - Chloroform anesthesia used by James Young Simpson 1847 - Chloroform anesthesia used by Marie Jean Pierre Flourens 1847 - American Medical Association is founded 1847 - The American Association for the Advancement of Science is founded 1848 - Phineas Gage has his brain pierced by an iron rod 1848 - First meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 1848 - Richard Owen coins the word "notochord" 1849 - Hermann von Helmholtz measures the speed of frog nerve impulses

1850 - 1900

1850 - Augustus Waller describes appearance of degenerating nerve fibers 1850 - Marshall Hall coins the term spinal shock 1850 - Emil Du Bois-Reymond invents nerve galvanometer 1851 - Jacob Augustus Lockhart Clarke describes the nucleus dorsalis, an area in the intermediate zone of the spinal cord gray matter 1851 - Heinrich Muller is first to describe the colored pigments in the retina 1851 - Marchese Alfonso Corti describes the cochlear receptor organ in the inner ear (organ of Corti) 1851 - Hermann von Helmholtz invents ophthalmoscope 1851 - Andrea Verga describes the cavum vergae 1852 - A. Kolliker describes how motor nerves originate from the neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord 1852 - George Meissner and Rudolf Wagner describe encapsulated nerve endings later known as "Meissner's corpuscles" 1853 - William Benjamin Carpenter proposes "sensory ganglion" (thalamus) as seat of consciousness 1854 - Louis P. Gratiolet describes convolutions of the cerebral cortex 1855 - Bartolomeo Panizza shows the occipital lobe is essential for vision 1855 - Richard Heschl describes the transverse gyri in the temporal lobe (Heschl's gyri) 1856 - Albrecht von Graefe describes homonymous hemianopia 1857 - Charles Locock observes the anticonvulsive effects of potassium bromide 1858 - Joseph von Gerlach stains brain tissue with a carmine solution 1859 - Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species 1859 - Rudolph Virchow coins the term neuroglia 1859 - Hermann von Helmholtz publishes work on color blindness 1860 - Albert Niemann purifies cocaine 1860 - Gustav Theodor Fechner develops "Fechner's law" 1860 - Karl L. Kahlbaum describes and names "catatonia" 1861 - Paul Broca discusses cortical localization 1861 - T.H. Huxley coins the term calcarine sulcus 1862 - William Withey Gull describes clinical signs of syringomyelia 1862 - Hermann Snellen invents the eyechart with letters to test vision 1862 - Wilhelm Friedrich Kuhne demonstrates how motor nerves terminate in muscle cells 1863 - Foramen of Luschka named after Hubert von Luschka 1863 - Ivan Mikhalovich Sechenov publishes Reflexes of the Brain 1863 - Nikolaus Friedreich describes a progressive hereditary degenerative CNS disorder (Friedreich's ataxia) 1863 - Charter of the National Academy of Sciences signed by Abraham Lincoln 1864 - John Hughlings Jackson writes on loss of speech after brain injury 1865 - Otto Friedrich Karl Deiters differentiates dendrites and axons 1865 - Otto Friedrich Karl Deiters describes the lateral vestibular nucleus (Deiter's nucleus) 1866 - John Langdon Haydon Down publishes work on congenital "idiots" 1866 - Julius Bernstein hypothesized that a nerve impulse is a "wave of negativity" 1866 - Max Schultze discovers the two retinal receptors, rods and cones 1866 - Leopold August Besser coins the term "Purkinje cells" 1867 - Hermann von Helmholtz publishes Handbook of Physiological Optics 1867 - Joseph Lister reports his concept of antisepsis 1867 - Theodore Meynert performs histologic analysis of cerebral cortex 1868 - Julius Bernstein measures the time course of the action potential 1868 - Friedrich Goll describes the fasciculus gracilis 1869 - Francis Galton claims that intelligence is inherited (publication of Hereditary Genius) 1869 - Johann Friedrich Horner describes eye disorder (small pupil, droopy eyelid) later to be called "Horner's syndrome" 1870 - Eduard Hitzig and Gustav Fritsch discover cortical motor area of dog using electrical stimulation 1870 - Ernst von Bergmann writes first textbook on nervous system surgery 1871 - Gustav Fechner publishes work about synesthesia 1871 - Silas Weir Mitchell coins the term "phantom limb." 1872 - George Huntington describes symptoms of a hereditary chorea 1872 - Sir William Turner describes the interparietal sulcus 1872 - Charles Darwin publishes The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals 1872 - Silas Weir Mitchell provides a clinical description of phantom limb pain 1873 - Camillo Golgi publishes first work on the silver nitrate method 1874 - Jean Martin Charcot describes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis 1874 - Vladimir Alekseyevich Betz publishes work on giant pyramidal cells 1874 - Roberts Bartholow electrically stimulates human cortical tissue 1874 - Carl Wernicke publishes Der Aphasische Symptomencomplex on aphasias 1875 - Sir David Ferrier describes different parts of monkey motor cortex 1875 - Richard Caton is first to record electrical activity from the brain 1875 - Wilhelm Heinrich Erb and Carl Friedrich Otto Westphal describe the knee jerk reflex 1876 - David Ferrier publishes The Functions of the Brain 1876 - Franz Christian Boll discovers rhodopsin 1876 - Francis Galton uses the term "nature and nurture" to explain "heredity and environment" 1877 - Jean-Martin Charcot publishes Lectures on the Diseases of the Nervous System 1878 - W. Bevan Lewis publishes work on giant pyramidal cells of human precentral gyrus 1878 - Claude Bernard describes nerve/muscle blocking action of curare 1878 - The first Ph.D. with "psychology" in its title is given to Granville Stanley Hall at Harvard University 1878 - Paul Broca publishes work on the "great limbic lobe" 1878 - W.R. Gowers publishes Unilateral Gunshot Injury to the Spinal Cord 1878 - Harmon Northrop Morse synthesized acetaminophen (paracetamol) 1878 - Louis-Antoine Ranvier describes regular interruptions in the myelin sheath (nodes of Ranvier) 1876 - David Ferrier publishes The Localization of Cerebral Disease 1879 - Camillo Golgi describes the "musculo-tendineous organs" (later to be know as the "Golgi tendon organs") 1879 - Mathias Duval introduces an improved method of embedding tissue using collodion 1879 - Hermann Munk presents detailed anatomy of the optic chiasm 1879 - William Crookes invents the cathode ray tube 1879 - Wilhelm Wundt sets up lab devoted to study human behavior 1879 - Scottish surgeon William Macewen performs successful surgery to treat a brain abscess 1880 - Jean Baptiste Edouard Gelineau introduces the word "narcolepsy" 1880 - Friedrich Sigmund Merkel describes free nerve endings later known as "Merkel's corpuscles" 1880 - Thomas Graydon invents the "Dentaphone," a bone conduction hearing device 1881 - Hermann Munk reports on visual abnormalities after occipital lobe ablation in dogs 1883 - Sir Victor Horsley describes effects of nitrous oxide anesthesia 1883 - Emil Kraepelin coins the terms neuroses and psychoses 1883 - George John Romanes coins the term "comparative psychology" 1883 - The Journal of the American Medical Association is founded 1884 - Franz Nissl describes the granular endoplasmic reticulum ("Nissl Substance") 1884 - Karl Koller discovers anesthetic properties of cocaine by testing it on his own eye 1884 - Georges Gilles de la Tourette describes several movement disorders 1884 - Theodor Meynert publishes A Clinical Treatise on the Diseases of the Forebrain 1884 - English surgeon Richman John Godlee performs surgery to remove a brain tumor 1885 - Paul Ehrlich notes that intravenous dye does not stain brain tissue 1885 - Carl Weigert introduces hematoxylin to stain myelin 1885 - Ludwig Edinger describes nucleus that will be known as the Edinger-Westphal nucleus 1885 - Hermann Ebbinghaus publishes On Memory 1885 - Louis Pasteur successfully vaccinates a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog 1886 - Joseph Jastrow earns the first Ph.D. from the first formal PhD program in psychology at Johns Hopkins University 1886 - V. Marchi publishes procedure to stain degenerating myelin 1887 - Sergei Korsakoff describes symptoms characteristic in alcoholics 1887 - The National Institutes of Health established 1887 - Alfred Binet and C. Fere publish Animal Magnetism, a study on hypnosis 1887 - Adolf Eugen Fick makes the first contact lens out of glass for vision correction 1887 - G. Stanley Hall publishes the first issue of the American Journal of Psychology 1887 - English surgeon Victor Horsley successfully removes a spinal cord tumor 1888 - William Gill describes anorexia nervosa 1888 - William W. Keen, Jr. is first American to remove intracranial meningioma 1888 - Hans Chiari introduces the term "syringomyelia" 1888 - Carlo Martinotti describes cortical cells later known as "Martinotti cells" 1888 - J. Madison Taylor, working for S. Weir Mitchell, designs the firest reflex hammer 1889 - Santiago Ramon y Cajal argues that nerve cells are independent elements 1889 - William His coins the term dendrite 1889 - Sir Victor Horsley publishes somatotopic map of monkey motor cortex 1889 - Carlo Martinotti describes cortical neuron with ascending axon (this neuron now bears his name, Martinotti cell) 1889 - F.C. Muller-Lyer discovers the Muller-Lyer illusion 1890 - Wilhelm Ostwald discovers the membrane theory of nerve conduction 1890 - William James publishes Principles of Psychology 1890 - James Cattell coins the term "mental tests" 1890 - Adolph Beck publishes observations of spontaneous electrical activity from rabbit and dog brains 1891 - H. Quincke introduces the lumbar puncture 1891 - Wilhelm von Waldeyer coins the term neuron 1891 - Luigi Luciani publishes manuscript on the cerebellum 1891 - Heinrich Quinke develops the lumbar puncture (spinal tap) 1892 - Santiago Ramon y Cajal publishes Structure of the Retina 1892 - Salomen Eberhard Henschen localizes vision to calcarine fissure 1892 - American Psychological Association formed 1892 - Arnold Pick first describes "Pick's disease" 1893 - Paul Emil Flechsig describes myelinization of the brain 1893 - Charles Scott Sherrington coins the term proprioceptive 1894 - Franz Nissl stains neurons with dahlia violet 1894 - Margaret Floy Washburn is the first woman to receive a Ph.D. (Cornell University) in psychology 1894 - Recognizes that neuromuscular junction transmission requires calcium ions 1895 - William His first uses the term hypothalamus 1895 - Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen invents the X-ray 1895 - Heinrick Quincke performs lumbar puncture to study cerebrospinal fluid 1895 - Formalization of the cranial nerve number system published in Basle Nomina Anatomica 1896 - Max von Frey details "stimulus hairs" to test the somatosensory system 1896 - Rudolph Albert von Kolliker coins the term axon 1896 - Camillo Golgi discovers the Golgi apparatus 1896 - Joseph Babinski describes the Babinski Sign 1896 - Emil Kraeplein describes dementia praecox 1896 - John William Strutt publishes The Theory of Sound 1897 - Ivan Petrovich Pavlov publishes work on physiology of digestion 1897 - Karl Ferdinand Braun invents the oscilloscope 1897 - John Jacob Abel isolates adrenalin 1897 - Charles Scott Sherrington coins the term synapse 1897 - Ferdinand Blum uses formaldehyde as brain fixative 1897 - Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) is synthesized by Felix Hoffmann 1898 - Charles Scott Sherrington describes decerebrate rigidity in cat 1898 - Edward Lee Thorndike describes the puzzle box 1898 - Bayer Drug Company markets heroin as nonaddicting cough medicine 1898 - John Newport Langley coins the term autonomic nervous system 1898 - Angelo Ruffini describes encapsulated nerve endings later known as Ruffini corpuscles 1899 - Francis Gotch describes a "refractory phase" between nerve impulses 1899 - Bayer AG markets aspirin 1899 - Miller Hutchison invents one of the first electric hearing aids called the "Akoulalion" 1899 - >Sigmund Freud publishes >The Interpretation of Dreams 1899 - Karl Gustav August Bier uses cocaine for intraspinal anesthesia		 John Hughlings JacksonImage courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, History of Medicine Collection Charles Darwin Hermann von Helmholtz Jean-Martin Charcot Claude Bernard Images courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston

Camillo GolgiCourtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

1900 - 1950

1900 - Charles Scott Sherrington states that cerebellum is head ganglion of the proprioceptive system 1900 - M. Lewandowsky coins the term "blood-brain barrier" (Bluthirnschranke) [ref: Aschner and Kerper, Mol. Biol. and Tox. of Metals, 2000] 1902 - Julius Bernstein proposes membrane theory for cells 1902 - Physiologist Ida Hyde is the first woman elected to the American Physiological Society 1902 - Oskar Vogt and Cecile Vogt coin the term "neurophysiology" 1903 - Ivan Pavlov coins the term conditioned reflex 1903 - Alfred Walter Campbell studies cytoarchitecture of anthropoid cerebral cortex 1904 - Procaine is synthesized 1904 - Thomas Elliott suggests that autonomic nerves may release chemical transmitters 1905 - Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon have their first intelligence test 1905 - John Newport Langley coins the phrase "parasympathetic nervous system" 1905 - Austrian ophthalmologist Eduard Zinn performs the first successful human corneal transplant 1906 - Alois Alzheimer describes presenile degeneration 1906 - Golgi and Cajal-Nobel Prize-Structure of the Nervous System 1906 - Sir Charles Scott Sherrington publishes The Integrative Action of the Nervous system that describes the synapse and motor cortex 1907 - Ross Granville Harrison describes tissue culture methods 1907 - John Newport Langley introduces the concept of receptor molecules 1908 - Vladimir Bekhterew describes the superior nucleus of the vestibular nerve (Bekhterew's nucleus) 1908 - Victor Alexander Haden Horsley and Robert Henry Clarke design stereotaxic instrument 1908 - Willem Einthoven makes string galvanometer recordings from the vagus nerve 1908 - Oberga introduces the cisterna puncture, a method to access the cerebrospinal fluid through the cistena magna 1908 - Eugen Bleuler coins the term schizophrenia 1909 - Tetrodotoxin isolated from the pufferfish and named by Yoshizumi Tahara 1909 - Harvey Cushing is first to electrically stimulate human sensory cortex 1909 - Korbinian Brodmann describes 52 discrete cortical areas 1909 - Karl Jaspers publishes General Mental Illness 1910 - Emil Kraepelin names Alzheimer's disease 1911 - Allvar Gullstrand-Nobel Prize-Optics of the eye 1911 - George Barger and Henry Dale discover norepinephrine (noradrenaline) 1912 - Original formula for the intelligence quotient (IQ) developed by William Stern 1913 - Santiago Ramon y Cajal develops gold chloride-mercury stain to show astrocytes 1913 - Edwin Ellen Goldmann finds blood brain barrier impermeable to large molecules 1913 - Edgar Douglas Adrian publishes work on all-or-none principle in nerve 1913 - Walter Samuel Hunter devises delayed-response test 1914 - Robert Barany-Nobel Prize-Vestibular apparatus 1914 - Henry H. Dale isolates acetylcholine 1915 - J.G. Dusser De Barenne describes activity of brain after strychnine application 1915 - Walter B. Cannon coins the term "fight or flight" in his book Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage: An Account of Recent Researches into the Function of Emotional Excitement 1915 - Aspirin becomes available without a prescription 1916 - Richard Henneberg coins the term cataplexy 1916 - George Guillain, Jean Alexander Barre and Andre Strohl describe an acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (Guillain-Barre Syndrome) 1916 - Shinobu Ishihara publishes a set of plates to test color vision 1916 - Lewis M. Terman publishes The Measurement of Intelligence 1918 - Walter E. Dandy introduces the ventriculography 1918 - Ernst Moro describes a baby's defensive reflex to slapping a pillow on both sides of the infant's head ("Moro reflex") 1919 - Cecile Vogt describes over 200 cortical areas 1919 - Walter E. Dandy introduces the air encephalography 1919 - Gordon Morgan Holmes localizes vision to striate area 1919 - Pio del Rio Hortega divides neuroglia into microglia and oligodendroglia 1919 - Konstantin Tretiakoff describes changes in the substatia nigra in people with Parkinson's disease 1920 - Society of Neurological Surgeons is founded 1920 - Henry Head publishes Studies in Neurology 1920 - Stephen Walter Ranson demonstrates connections between the hypothalamus and pituitary 1920 - John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner publish experiments about classical conditioning of fear (Little Albert experiments) 1921 - Otto Loewi publishes work on Vagusstoff 1921 - Hermann Rorschach develops the inkblot test 1921 - John Augustus Larsen and Leonard Keeler develop the polygraph 1921 - del Rio Hortega describes microglia 1922 - Army Medical Library established (was the Library of the Surgeon General's Office) 1923 - Capgras syndrome described by Jean Marie Joseph Capgras 1924 - Charles Scott Sherrington discovers the stretch reflex 1924 - Hans Berger records the first human electroencephalogram (EEG) 1925 - C. von Economo and G.N. Koskinas revise Brodmann's cortical nomenclature of the cerebral cortex 1926 - Percival Bailey and Harvey Cushing publish paper describing more the 2,000 neuroepithelial neoplasms 1927 - Chester William Darrow studies galvanic skin reflex in US 1928 - Dorothy Klenke Nash becomes the first female neurosurgeon to practice in the United States 1928 - Philip Bard suggests the neural mechanism of rage is in the diencephalon 1928 - Walter Rudolph Hess reports "affective responses" to hypothalamic stimulation 1928 - John Fulton publishes his observations (made in 1926 and 1928) of the sounds of blood flowing over the human visual cortex 1929 - Hans Berger publishes his findings about the first human electroencephalogram 1929 - Karl Lashley defines "equipotentiality" and "mass action" 1927 - J. Wagner-Jauregg - Nobel Prize-Malaria to treat dementia paralyses 1928 - Edgar Douglas Adrian publishes The Basis of Sensation 1929 - Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Spencer Gasser publish work on the correlation of nerve fiber size and function 1929 - Walter B. Cannon coins the term homeostasis 1930 - John Carew Eccles shows central inhibition of flexor reflexes 1931 - Ulf Svante von Euler and J.H. Gaddum discover substance P 1932 - Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska invent the electron microscope 1932 - Jan Friedrich Tonnies develops ink-writing EEG machine 1932 - Edgar Douglas Adrian and Charles S. Sherrington share Nobel Prize for work on the function of neurons 1932 - Jan Friedrich Toennies and Brian Matthews design the differential amplifier 1932 - Smith, Kline and French introduce the first amphetamine, Benzedrine 1933 - Ralph Waldo Gerard describes first experimental evoked potentials 1934 - S. Howard Bartley performs studies on cortical visual evoked potentials in rabbits 1935 - Ward C. Halsted establishes the first clinical neuropsychological laboratory in the United States 1935 - Dexedrine (an amphetamine) introduced to treat narcolepsy 1935 - Frederic Bremer uses cerveau isole preparation to study sleep 1935 - Stroop Test developed 1935 - Jan Friedrich Toennies develops a five-channel ink-writing EEG 1936 - Egas Moniz publishes work on the first human frontal lobotomy 1936 - Henry Hallett Dale and Otto Loewi share Nobel Prize for work on the chemical transmission between nerves 1936 - Walter Freeman performs first lobotomy in the United States 1937 - James Papez publishes work on limbic circuit 1936 - Massachusetts General Hospital has first EEG laboratory 1937 - Heinrich Kluver and Paul Bucy publish work on bilateral temporal lobectomies 1937 - James W. Papez develops "visceral theory" of emotion 1937 - John Zachary Young suggests that the squid giant axon can be used to understand nerve cells 1937 - Julius Steinfeld publishes report of using insulin shock to treat schizophrenia 1938 - Isador Rabi coins term "magnetic resonance" 1938 - B.F. Skinner publishes The Behavior of Organisms that describes operant conditioning 1938 - Albert Hofmann synthesizes LSD 1938 - Phenobarbital is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1938 - The Journal of Neurophysiology is first published 1938 - Ugo Cerletti and Lucino Bini treat human patients with electroshock 1938 - Franz Kallmann publishes The Genetics of Schizophrenia 1938 - "Ames Room" designed by Adelbert Ames, Jr. 1939 - Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale developed 1939 - Carl Pfaffman describes directionally sensitive cat mechanoreceptors 1939 - Nathaniel Kleitman publishes Sleep and Wakefulness 1939 - The Eastern EEG Association (Society) is formed 1941 - Chloral hydrate (a sedative) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1942 - Judith Graham develops a KCl-filled glass electrode for recording muscle fiber resting membrane potential 1942 - Stephen Kuffler develops the single nerve-muscle fiber preparation 1943 - John Raymond Brobeck describes hypothalamic hyperphasia 1944 - Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Spencer Gasser share Nobel Prize for work on the functions of single nerve fiber 1944 - Leo Kanner coins the term autism 1946 - Theodor Rasmussen describes the olivocochlear bundle (bundle of Rasmussen) 1946 - President Truman signs the National Mental Health Act 1947 - The American Society of Electroencephalography is founded 1947 - German neurologist Joachim Bodamer coins the term "prosopagnosia" (face blindness) 1948 - The World Health Organization is founded 1949 - Kenneth Cole develops the voltage clamp 1949 - A.C.A.F. Egas Moniz-Nobel Prize-Leucotomy to treat certain psychoses 1949 - Walter Rudolph Hess receives Nobel Prize for work on the "Interbrain" 1949 - Horace Winchell Magoun defines the reticular activating system 1949 - John Cade discovers that lithium is an effective treatment for bipolar depression 1949 - Giuseppi Moruzzi and Horace Winchell Magoun publish Brain Stem Reticular Formation and Activation of the EEG 1949 - Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children is published 1949 - The Journal of EEG and Clinical Neurophysiology begins publication 1949 - National Institute of Mental Health is formally established 1949 - Donald Olding Hebb publishes The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory		 Charles Scott SherringtonCourtesy of the National Library of Medicine.

Harvey CushingCourtesy of the National Library of Medicine Egas MonizCourtesy of the National Library of Medicine

1950 - present

1950 - National Science Foundation is created by Public Law 81-507 1950 - Seconal (barbituate; antianxiety medication) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1950 - Karl Lashley publishes In Search of the Engram 1950 - Eugene Roberts and J. Awapara independently identify GABA in the brain 1950 - The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke established (it has gone through several name changes) 1950 - French chemist Paul Charpentier synthesizes chlorpromazine, an antipsychotic drug 1950 - Wilder Penfield published the book The Cerebral Cortex of Man 1951 - MAO-inhibitors introduced to treat psychotics 1951 - B.F. Skinner describes shaping in a paper titled How to Teach Animals 1952 - The Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published by the American Psychiatric Association 1953 - Brenda Milner discusses patient HM who suffers from memory loss after hippocampal surgery 1953 - Eugene Aserinski and Nathaniel Kleitman describe rapid eye movements (REM) during sleep 1953 - Serpasil (reserpine; an antipsychotic drug) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1953 - H. Kluver and E. Barrera introduce Luxol fast blue MBS stain 1953 - Stephen Kuffler publishes work on center-surround, on-off organization of retinal ganglion cell receptive fields 1953 - James Watson and Francis Crick publish paper revealing the molecular structure of DNA 1953 - Dilantin (phenytoin; an antiepileptic drug) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1954 - James Olds describes rewarding effects of hypothalamic stimulation 1954 - John Lilly invents the "isolation tank" 1954 - Thorazine (chlorpromazine; an antipsychotic drug) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1954 - Chlorpromazine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration 1955 - Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale is published 1955 - Ritalin (methylphenidate; a mild stimulant) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1956 - L. Leksell uses ultrasound to examine the brain 1956 - National Library of Medicine named (was the Army Medical Library) 1956 - Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen isolate and purify nerve growth factor 1957 - W. Penfield and T. Rasmussen devise motor and sensory homunculus 1957 - The American Medical Association recognizes alcoholism as a disease 1958 - Paul Janssen develops haloperidol as a neuroleptic drug 1959 - P. Karlson and M. Lusher coin the term "pheromone" 1960 - Ro 5-0690 (Librium), the first benzodiazepine, is approved by the FDA 1960 - Oleh Hornykiewicz shows that brain dopamine is lower than normal in Parkinson's disease patients 1961 - Georg Von Bekesy awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the function of the cochlea 1961 - Levadopa successfully treats parkinsonism 1961 - Elavil (amitriptyline; an antidepressant drug) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1961 - International Brain Research Organization founded 1962 - Eldon Foltz performs the first cingulotomy to treat chronic pain 1963 - John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Andrew Fielding Huxley share Nobel Prize for work on the mechanisms of the neuron cell membrane 1963 - Valium (diazepam; an antianxiety drug) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1964 - Psychobiology Department founded at the University of California, Irvine 1965 - Ronald Melzack and Patrick D. Wall publish gate control theory of pain 1965 - Drug Abuse Control Act 1966 - Department of Neurobiology founded at Harvard Medical School 1967 - Ragnar Arthur Granit, Halden Keffer Hartline and George Wald share Nobel Prize for work on the mechanisms of vision 1967 - Haldol (haloperidol; an antipsychotic drug) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1967 - International Neuropsychological Society established 1968 - Alexander Romanovich Luria publishes The Mind of a Mnemonist; A Little Book About a Vast Memory 1968 - National Eye Institute is established 1968 - The National Institute of Neurological Diseases is renamed the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke 1968 - Tegratol (carbamazepine; an antiepileptic drug) is approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration 1969 - D.V. Reynolds describes the analgesic effect of electrical stimulation of the periaqueductal gray 1969 - The Society for Neuroscience is formed 1970 - Julius Axelrod, Bernard Katz and Ulf Svante von Euler share Nobel Prize for work on neurotransmitters 1971 - The first annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience is held in Washington, D.C. 1971 - Godfrey N. Hounsfield develops x-ray computed tomography 1972 - Jennifer LaVail and Matthew LaVail use horseradish peroxidase to study axonal transport 1973 - Candace Pert and Solomon Snyder demonstrate opioid receptors in brain 1973 - Sinemet is introduced as a treatment for Parkinson's disease 1973 - Konrad Z. Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch share Nobel Prize for work on ethology 1973 - Timothy Bliss and Terje Lomo describe long-term potentiation 1973 - M.E.Phelps, E.J.Hoffman and M.M.Ter Pogossian develop first PET scanner 1974 - National Institute on Drug Abuse established 1974 - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism established 1974 - International Association for the Study of Pain founded 1974 - John Hughes and Hans Kosterlitz discover enkephalin 1974 - First NMR image (a mouse) is taken 1975 - John Hughes and Hans Kosterlitz publish work on enkephalins 1975 - Nembutol (pentobarbital sodium; a barbiturate drug) is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 1975 - Loxitane (loxapine; an antipsychotic drug) is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 1975 - Klonopin (clonazepam; an antiepileptic drug) is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 1976 - Choh Hao Li and David Chung publish work on beta-endorphin 1976 - Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann develop the patch-clamp technique 1977 - Roger Guillemin and Andrew Victor Schally share Nobel Prize for work on peptides in the brain 1980 - Mental Health Systems Act of 1980 is signed by Jimmy Carter 1981 - David Hunter Hubel and Torsten N. Wiesel-Nobel Prize-visual system 1981 - Roger Wolcott Sperry awarded Nobel Prize-functions brain hemispheres 1981 - Xanax (alprazolam; an antianxiety drug) is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 1982 - Bengt Ingemar Bergstrom, John Robert Vane and Sune K. Bergstrom awarded Nobel Prize for the discovery of prostaglandins 1982 - Halcion (triazolam; an antianxiety drug) is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration 1983 - A genetic test for Huntington's disease is announced 1986 - Stanley Cohen and Rita Levi-Montalcini awarded Nobel prize for their work on the control of nerve cell growth 1987 - Fluoxetine (Prozac) introduced as treatment for depression 1990 - U.S. President George Bush declares the decade starting in 1990 the "Decade of the Brain" 1991 - Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann share the Nobel Prize for their work on the function of single ion channels 1992 - National Institute on Drug Abuse becomes part of the National Institutes of Health 1992 - Giacomo Rizzolatti describes mirror neurons in area F5 of the monkey premotor cortex 1993 - The genetic code responsible for Huntington's disease is identified 1994 - Alfred G. Gilman and Martin Rodbell share the Nobel Prize for their discovery of G-protein coupled receptors and their role in signal transduction 1997 - Stanley B. Prusiner awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of prions; a new biological principle of infection 2000 - American Psychological Association launches the Decade of Behavior campaign 2000 - Arvid Carlsson, Paul Greengard and Eric Kandel share the Nobel Prize for their discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system 2004 - Linda B. Buck and Richard Axel share the Nobel Prize for their discoveries about odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system 2006 - The term "optogenetics" first appears in a publication 2013 - The start of the Human Brain Project is announced 2013 - James Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Sudhof share the Nobel Prize for their discoveries about the machinery regulating vesicle traffic 2013 - US President Barack Obama announces the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative 2014 - John O'Keefe, Edvard Moser, and May-Britt Moser share the Nobel Prize for their discoveries about cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain 2017 - Jeffery C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young share the Nobel Prize for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm 2021 - David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian share the Nobel Prize for discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch 		Wilder Penfield Roger SperryCourtesy of the ArchivesCalifornia Institute of Technology

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  • Neuroscientists - pre 1800
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References:

  1. Afifi, A.K. and Bergman, R.A., Functional Neuroanatomy, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1998. The margins of this text are filled with historical facts about the origins of neuroanatomical structures and discoveries.
  2. Albert, D.M., Dates in Ophthalmology. A Chronological Record of Progress in Ophthalmology Over the Last Millennium, New York: Parthenon Publishing Group, 2002.
  3. Bennett, M.R., The early history of the synapse: From Plato to Sherrington, Brain Research Bulletin, 50:95-118, 1999.
  4. Brazier, M.A.B., A History of the Electrical Activity of the Brain, London: Pitman, 1961.
  5. Brazier, M.A.B., A History of Neurophysiology in the 19th Century, New York: Raven Press, 1988.
  6. Clarke, E. and Dewhurst, K., An Illustrated History of Brain Function, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972.
  7. Clarke, E. and C.D. O'Malley, C.D., The Human Brain and Spinal Cord, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.
  8. Finger, S., Origins of Neuroscience, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
  9. Finger, S. Minds Behind the Brain: A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries, New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  10. Francis, R.L., The Illustrated Almanac of Science Technology and Invention, New York: Plenum Press, 1997.
  11. Glickstein, M. Neuroscience. A Historical Introduction, Cambridge (MA): MIT Press, 2014.
  12. Gross, C.G., Brain, Vision, Memory. Tales in the History of Neuroscience, Cambridge, MIT Press, 1998.
  13. Harding, A.S., Milestones in Health and Medicine, Phoenix (AZ) Oryx Press, 2000.
  14. Kandel, E.R. and Squire, L.R., Neuroscience: Breaking Down Scientific Barriers to the Study of Brain and Mind, in Science, 290:1113-1120, 2000.
  15. Marshall, L.H. and Magoun, H.W., Discoveries in the Human Brain, Totowa; Humana Press, 1998.
  16. Martensen, R.L., The Brain Takes Shape. An Early History, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004.
  17. Millon, T., Masters of the Mind. Exploring the Story of Mental Illness from Ancient Times to the New Millennium, Hoboken (NJ): John Wiley and Sons, 2004.
  18. Pickover, C.A., The Medical Book. From Witch Doctors to Robot Surgeons, 250 Milestones in the History of Medicine, New York: Sterling, 2012.
  19. Rose, F.C. and Bynum, W.F., Historical Aspects of the Neurosciences. A Festschrift for Macdonald Critchely, New York: Raven Press, 1982.
  20. Sebastian, A. Dates in Medicine. A Chronological Record of Medical Progress Over Three Millennia, New York: The Parthenon Publishing Group, 2000
  21. Shepherd, G.M., Foundations of the Neuron Doctrine, New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
  22. Street, W. R. A Chronology of Noteworthy Events in American Psychology, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1994.
  23. Swartz, B.E. and Goldenshon, E.S., Timeline of the history of EEG and associated fields, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 106:173-176, 1998.
  24. Wickens, A.P., A History of the Brain: From Stone Age Surgery to Modern Neuroscience, New York: Psychology Press, 2015.
  25. The Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. Basic and Clinical Perspectives has some excellent papers in their "Neuroanniversary" series.

Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine

For more information, see:

  • Chronology of the National Institutes of Health
  • Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus
  • Founders of Neurology
  • Mapping the Motor Cortex - A History
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