Phineas Gage

Years ago I read about Phineas P. Gage, an American railroad construction foreman now remembered for his incredible survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying one or both of his brain's frontal lobes, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behavior—effects said to be so profound that friends saw him as "no longer Gage."

On what I kind of consider to be my first date with my other half, I visited the Harvard Medical Museum and saw Gage's skull and the cast of his head. I was really excited when a friend gave me a Smithsonian magazine with an amazing article about a recently discovered photo of Gage. A couple of photo collectors had owned it for 30 years, and imagined him to be a whaler holding a harpoon. After posting the image on Flickr, eventually someone made the connection and suggested the identity. Here's the article: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Phineas-Gage-Neurosciences-Most-Famous-Patient.html