Chapter 1: The Accident That Changed Everything

In 1848, a tragic incident transformed the life of a 25-year-old railroad worker named Phineas Gage, marking a pivotal moment in the study of neuroscience. This incident became the first documented case linking brain trauma to alterations in personality.

On a fateful September day in Cavendish, Vermont, Gage was part of a railroad crew tasked with preparing a new railway bed. While packing explosives into a borehole using a 43-inch-long tamping iron, disaster struck. The explosive detonated, hurling the 13.25-pound iron rod directly through Gage’s skull. It penetrated his left cheek, traversed his brain, and exited at the rear, resulting in the destruction of his left eye. Miraculously, he survived, with the rod reportedly landing 32 feet away.

Dr. John Harlow attended to Gage at the scene and noted that he was conscious and even able to walk. Back at home, Harlow removed bone fragments and repaired the larger pieces before closing the wounds inflicted by the rod. Despite complications from an infected wound an