CLASSICS IN PEDIATRIC NEUROSURGERY Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682–1771): his anatomic majesty's contributions to the neurosciences R. Shane Tubbs & Dominik T. Steck & Martin M. Mortazavi & Mohammadali M. Shoja & Marios Loukas & Aaron A. Cohen-Gadol Received: 6 February 2011 / Accepted: 30 April 2012 / Published online: 15 May 2012 # Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Introduction Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the Father of Pathology and contributed much to our early understanding of neuropathology. For example, he intro- duced the concept that diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease must be based on an exact understanding of the pathologic changes in anatomic structures. Additionally, he contributed to what would become the discipline of neuro- surgery and, for example, performed trepanation for head trauma. Conclusions It is the contributions of such early pioneers as Morgagni that our current understanding of the neurosciences is based. Keywords Anatomy . History . Italy . Neuroanatomy . Pathology . Brain Introduction For those who they have dissected or inspected many, have at least learn’d to doubt when the others, who are ignorant of anatomy, and do not take the trouble to attend to it, are in no doubt at all. Giovanni Battista Morgagni His life Giovanni Battista Morgagni (Fig. 1) was born in Forli, Italy (40 mi southeast of Bologna and near the Adriatic Sea) on 25 February 1682 [4]. The period marked the onset of the Spanish domination of Italy [1]. His parents were Fabrice and Marie Fornielli, and from a very early age, he was interested in science and literature as well as philosophy [2]. At the age of 16, he began studying at the University of Bologna. After completing his early studies at Forli, in 1698, at the age of 16, he began studying medicine in Bologna and received his doctorate in philosophy and medicine in 1701 and went on to work in three hospitals in Bologna, particularly studying anatomy and clini- cal medicine at the hospital Santa Maria della Morte as prosec- tor to Antonio Maria Valsalva (1666–1723) who was one of the more well-known students of Malpighi (Father of Histology) who influenced Morgagni to study pathology [7]. In 1706, he published his first major work, the Adversaria Anatomica, which was the foundation for his reputation as an anatomist. In 1707, he replaced Valsalva and took his position as a demonstrator of anatomy when Valsalva left Bologna. In 1709, Morgagni returned to Forli and practiced as a physician R. S. Tubbs (*) Section of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Children’ s Hospital, 1600 7th Avenue South ACC 400, Birmigham, AL, USA e-mail: shane.tubbs@chsys.org D. T. Steck University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany A. A. Cohen-Gadol Department of Neurological Surgery, Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA M. Loukas Department of Anatomical Sciences, St. George’ s University, St. George’ s, Grenada M. M. Mortazavi : M. M. Shoja Division of Neurosurgery, University of Alabama, 1600 7th Avenue South ACC 400, Birmigham, AL, USA Childs Nerv Syst (2012) 28:1099–1102 DOI 10.1007/s00381-012-1797-6