Wilder Penfield and Academic Neurosurgery in North America: 1934-1945

Abstract

Wilder Penfield was appointed as Chair of McGill University's newly created Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery in 1930 and Director of the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) in 1933. The departmental structure allowed Penfield to develop his own research priorities, and the MNI's clinics and laboratories allowed residents to train in neurosurgery and in basic science under one roof. This paper reviews the research performed by neurosurgical residents under Penfield's direction from 1934 to 1945 and argues that their initiation to laboratory research contributed to the emergence of neuroscience following the Second World War.