COVER PICTURE August Forel (1848–1931): a look at his life and work Stephen Osiro & Jerzy Gielecki & Petru Matusz & Mohammadali M. Shoja & R. Shane Tubbs & Marios Loukas Published online: 17 December 2011 # Springer-Verlag 2011 Abstract Dr. August Henri Forel was a world-renowned psychiatrist, neuroanatomist, myrmecologist, social reform- er, and promoter of world peace. His collected works (1907) included a description of what is now known as the tegmen- tal fields of Forel and the zona incerta. In 1887, he described the cellular functional units within the brain, setting the foundation for what would later become known as the neuron theory. He also studied the thalamus and hypothal- amus and gave detailed descriptions of the trigeminal, vagus, and hypoglossal nerves. His work was honored with the naming of the ventral tegmental decussation after him. Forel battled alcoholism and dedicated his work to numerous social reforms as well as advocating for world peace. As a devoted pacifist, he attempted to bring the First World War to a close. A decade before he died, Forel became a member of the Baha’i Faith and was a founding influence for the National Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is of Switzerland. His image has appeared on Swiss postage stamps and 1,000 Franc bank notes. Keywords August Forel . Neuroanatomy research . Neuron theory . Social reforms Early life August Henri Forel (Fig. 1) was born on September 1, 1848 in the small town of Morges on the shores of Lake Geneva, a French-speaking part of Switzerland [1]. He was the oldest of four children, born to an upper middle class family in the country house called La Gracieuse, which belonged to his paternal grandparents. His father, Victor Forel (b. Switzer- land), was a typical Swiss Vaudois farmer, while his mother, Pauline Morin (b. France), was of Calvinistic origin, the daughter of a syndic and manufacturer in Southern France [7]. As a boy, Forel was isolated by his overly protective mother from outdoor activities and friends. Consequently, he grew up timid, bored, and simply an average student. At the age of 7, Forel began to observe various insect species. He started with snails but later turned to wasps and ants. His interest in ants arose from a monograph on ant life by Pierre Huber [7] and was strongly supported by the naturalist academics of his family. This childlike curiosity would mark the beginning of Forel’ s lifelong passion and ultimately result in his famous book, Les Fourmis de la Suisse (The Ants of Switzerland), which he wrote in 1874 as a medical S. Osiro : M. Loukas (*) Department of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, St. George’ s University, St. George, Grenada e-mail: mloukas@sgu.edu J. Gielecki : M. Loukas Department of Anatomy, Medical School Varmia and Mazuria, Olsztyn, Poland P. Matusz Department of Anatomy, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania M. M. Shoja Division of Neurosurgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA M. M. Shoja Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran R. S. Tubbs Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Children’ s Hospital, Birmingham, AL, USA Childs Nerv Syst (2012) 28:1–5 DOI 10.1007/s00381-011-1659-7