H.M., World-Renowned Amnesia Patient, Has Died
by Caser
In 1953, Henry Gustav Molaison underwent brain surgery to ameliorate devastating epileptic seizures. The surgery removed two-thirds of his hippocampus and other sections of his medial temporal lobe. His seizures ended. However, so did his ability to form new long-term memories. For the next 55 years, Molaison became H.M., a profound amnesiac patient and the subject of groundbreaking neurological studies on the composition of the human brain and the processes of learning and memory. He knew his name and a few facts from his childhood, but aside from that, each day was a brand new life for H.M. Perhaps what we can take away from the life of Henry G. Molaison is that despite our regrets and failures in life, memory is the one thing that holds our identity together.
Featured books on amnesia, memory, and learning at the AADL include: In Search of Memory by Eric R. Kandel, The Woman Who Can't Forget by Jill Price, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks.
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