Franz Joseph GallBorn 9 Mar 1758; died 22 Aug 1828 at age 70. German physician, anatomist and physiologistt who pioneered in linking cerebral functions to localized areas of the brain and associated with underlying attributes of the human personality. As early as the 1790s, he was developing theories on the anatomy and function of the parts of the brain. He was first to identify recognize that the brain's gray matter was made up of nerve cell bodies, and that the white matter has the fibers that carry impulses from the nerves. He believed an external examination of the skull could reveal individual intellect and personality, which he termed “cranioscopy,” later called “phrenology” by his protegé, Johann G. Spurzheim. In 1805, they travelled on a long lecture tour of Europe, also studying at prisons and asylums.« |
