Volume 6, Number 5, 2000THE NEUROSCIENTIST HISTORY OF NEUROSCIENCE Widely known as the pioneer of

clinician/scientist during the biomed-ical revolution of the early 20th cen-tury. A review of his first seminal contribution to neuroscience reveals how persistent, budding scientists at the turn of the previous century struggled to achieve recognition. Cushing’s early research led to a modern understanding of increased intracranial pressure and revolution-ized the practice of neurosurgery. This first of two reports on Cushing, the neuroscientist, focuses on the events surrounding his successful work on intracranial pressure. Cushing completed his medical education at the beginning of the biomedical revolution, a time when medicine star ted to embrace scientific investigation as the main tool to diagnose and treat disease. However, medical graduates who wanted to learn the rigors of scien-tific technique and discovery had to study abroad; few medical schools in the United States at the time had research facilities. Even those medi-cal schools with laboratories could not compare to the qual i ty of research that the European institu-tions were achieving (1). In 1900, at the end of his surgical residency at Johns Hopkins, Cushing had not yet chosen a surgical subspecialty, although it had become evident that he was leaning toward neurosurgery. He was regarded as one of the more promising young surgeons who had published a vari-ety of papers on different surgical topics. Although other universities expressed an interest in hiring him, he did not want to settle for anything less than a respectable position at Hopkins or another first-rate institu-tion. As he waited, his mentors, including William Osler, convinced him that he should take a world tour of the best clinics and research labs on the European continent. In medi-cal school, Cushing had looked for-ward to touring Europe, which would make him not only a better researcher but also more cosmopoli-tan. For a time, his thoughts of mar-riage intervened but his sense of accomplishment prevailed (2). Over the next 14 months, Cushing studied with some of the most famous European scientists includ