Gage, Phineas

The most famous patient to have survived severe damage to the brain and the first from whom something was learned about the relation between personality and the function of the front parts (the frontal lobes) of the brain. During work on a railroad in 1848, an unplanned explosion propelled a rod through Gage's head. Against all expectation, Gage survived. Once capable and responsible, Gage became profane, fitful, and obstinate - a man who was 'no longer Gage.'