Saturday, September 12, 2009

God Bless Phineas Gage

In September 13th we celebrate the notorious case of Mr. Phineas Gage. On that day in the year 1845, Mr. Gage experienced a mind-numbing thing: he was working on a railroad building project when an explosion sent a steel rod through his head (it landed about 80 yards away.)

What's special about Mr. Gage as opposed to everyone else who gets a 1.5 inch thick metal shaft sent through their head, is that Mr. Gage survived, and lived a relatively normal life afterwards. Apparently his is the subject of study to this day at universities and colleges that address issues of neurological science: every different perspective using him as an example to support their beliefs and claims (even when those claims oppose one another.)

You can read about Mr. Gage here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
Happy Gage Day!

Basil