thank you, Henry Gustav Molaison

[hammercock]

The man known for 5 decades only as H.M. has just died. H.M.'s personal tragedy of profound amnesia following experimental brain surgery gave the world a rich legacy of neurological learning. Because of his cooperation with scientists, we know that there are multiple mechanisms for creating and storing memories. "The study of H. M. by Brenda Milner stands as one of the great milestones in the history of modern neuroscience," said Dr. Eric Kandel, a neuroscientist at Columbia University. "It opened the way for the study of the two memory systems in the brain, explicit and implicit, and provided the basis for everything that came later -- the study of human memory and its disorders."
Mr. Molaison's loss was humanity's gain.

Rest in peace, Henry Gustav Molaison.