Posted on 12/05/2008 12:48:51 AM PST by neverdem
He knew his name. That much he could remember.
He knew that his father’s family came from Thibodaux, La., and his mother was from Ireland, and he knew about the 1929 stock market crash and World War II and life in the 1940s.
But he could remember almost nothing after that.
In 1953, he underwent an experimental brain operation in Hartford to correct a seizure disorder, only to emerge from it fundamentally and irreparably changed. He developed a syndrome neurologists call profound amnesia. He had lost the ability to form new memories.
For the next 55 years, each time he met a friend, each time he ate a meal, each time he walked in the woods, it was as if for the first time.
And for those five decades, he was recognized as the most important patient in the history of brain science. As a participant in hundreds of studies, he helped scientists understand the biology of learning, memory and physical dexterity, as well as the fragile nature of human identity.
On Tuesday evening at 5:05, Henry Gustav Molaison — known worldwide only as H. M., to protect his privacy — died of respiratory failure at a nursing home in Windsor Locks, Conn. His death was confirmed by Suzanne Corkin, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who had worked closely with him for decades. Henry Molaison was 82.
From the age of 27, when he embarked on a life as an object of intensive study, he lived with his parents, then with a relative and finally in an institution. His amnesia did not damage his intellect or radically change his personality. But he...
--snip--
H. M. could recount childhood scenes: Hiking the Mohawk Trail. A road trip with his parents. Target shooting in the woods near his house...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
That's the original URL from the printer friendly page. I edited it down to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/05hm.html?pagewanted=print
Do you still have to endure all the ads at the Times?
Here's some info about the hippocampus and temporal lobes.
RIP.
The New York Times occasionally forgets its position as Pravda West and prints a damn good article.
Sounds like he could have worked in any MSM newsroom with his selective memory of history.
Yeah. Science. First they mutilate the guy and destroy his life, then they proclaim him a miracle. Ain’t they grand?
great article, thanks!
Thanks for the memories
Last night when I got home
You were not alone
You said he was a Freeper
You came to use the phone...
I just read the entire article and I feel very sad for this poor man. May he rest in peace with God.
I feel the same way.
Also reminds me of the movie Memento.
I'm surprised he didn't get elected to Congress. Seems like he would fit right in.....
Hollywood's arrogance: Two hours of incredibly dear, sweet, and insightful beauty ruined by about five minutes of potty-mouth that ensured I can't share it with my kids until I get around to editing it and re-burning it to DVD.
I thought the same.
There was a very interesting article in the New Yorker about another man with this syndrome. Very awful, really. The man remembered his wife, and amazingly, how to play the piano, but that was about it.
God bless the man.
But I also can’t help but think of the old SNL Tom Hanks “Mr. Short Term Memory” skit.
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FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
It's also why if you can't remember someone's phone number you can hold your hand over the keypad and "remember" the pattern to the number.
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