HM

Henry Molaison underwent brain surgery for life-threatening epilepsy in 1953, the operation destroyed his hippocampus, and he suffered catastrophic memory failures for the rest of his life and became the most studied amnesia patient in the history of the world.

That collision was the likely cause of severely debilitating epileptic seizures that began to plague young Henry Molaison. They were so crippling--and uncontrollable by drugs--that in 1953, his parents agreed to brain surgery for their then 27-year-old son.

Observations of the famous amnesiac Henry Molaison, known as H.M., and other patients suggested that where memories were stored in the brain changed with time (SN Online: 1/28/14).

I thought I would rather be a happy and unsuccessful novelist than being an unhappy, successful NHS worker - not that I was desperately unhap" His idea for the story began when he read a magazine obituary for Henry Molaison, who died in December 2008 at the age of 82, having been unable to form any new memories following an operation when just 27 years old.

His idea for the story began when he read a magazine obituary for Henry Molaison, who died in December 2008 aged 82, having been unable to form any new memories following an operation at the age of 27.

In humans, the importance of the hippocampus for social memory was famously illustrated by the case of Henry Molaison, who had much of his hippocampus removed by surgeons in 1953 in an attempt to cure severe epilepsy.

FOR MOST OF HIS LIFE, 27-YEAR-OLD HENRY Molaison had suffered from severe epilepsy.

In 1953 Henry Molaison emerges from experimental brain surgery without any recollection of the last two years of his life, or the ability to form new memories.

Sixty years ago, 27-year-old Henry Molaison underwent an experimental operation in a last-ditch attempt to stop his debilitating epileptic seizures.

He stumbled across a magazine obituary for Henry Molaison, who died in December 2008.

One of the most famous human cases was a man named Henry Molaison, known as H.M.