Skull of Phineas Gage

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Phineas Gage became the center of a landmark neuroscience case when an explosion forced a red-hot tamping iron through this railroad foreman’s brain and skull. He survived, but reportedly suffered a personality change. This was the first evidence suggesting that the frontal lobe of the brain was linked to one’s personality. A more complete story is hosted at the website of the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School, which happens to be the current home of the original skull. This work is a derivative of the CT scan made of the Phineas Gage Skull as discussed in The Tale of Phineas Gage, digitally remastered (Ratiu, P et. al., 2004), and is being shared with the kind permission of the Warren Anatomical Museum at Harvard Medical School’s Countway Library. This model was created by Graham Holt at the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children’s Hospital using 3DSlicer , MeshLab and NetFabb Basic. This model is also being shared at Thingiverse.com and the NIH 3D Print Exchange.