Friday, December 05, 2008

In Memory of Henry Gustav Molaison

Photo from NYT
I heard on the radio today that Henry Molaison died last Tuesday. At first I didn't place who this person was; then they referred to him as H.M. Then I knew. He was the man who had surgery on his brain in an effort to curb his seizures. The unfortunate side effect of the surgery was the H.M. was unable to make any new long term memories. I never knew the man's name because in classes where we talked about him, he was only referred to by his initials. I am happy that I finally know his name, but I am sad that it took his death to make that possible.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have a living grandfather that claims to be a cousin of HM. My mother claims to be his niece and remembers his seizures as a child. Please send some geneolgy information if anyone has it.