Phineas Gage: Putting Phineas Together Again

by John Fleischman
This work of scientific nonfiction tells the story of Phineas Gage, a railroad construction foreman from Vermont who, in 1848, suffered an injury that revolutionized neuroscience.

Here are links to our lists for the book: "Horrible Accident" in Vermont, What We Thought About How We Thought, Following Phineas Gage, Putting Phineas Together Again
15 words 7 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. renowned
    widely known and esteemed
    The Damasios are renowned brain researchers at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics in Iowa City and treat patients with the same kind of frontal lobe damage that afflicted Phineas.
  2. last resort
    something done or used only when nothing else works
    This kind of brain surgery is strictly a last resort to save a patient's life, because even if the operation goes well, the risk of side effects is high.
  3. empathy
    understanding and entering into another's feelings
    All react with little empathy and seem to find emotion a foreign language.
  4. reliable
    able to be depended on; consistent or steady
    Emotional response is difficult to measure, but there is one usually reliable sign of how you are feeling—sweaty palms.
  5. conductivity
    the property of transmitting heat, electricity, or sound
    Your sweat contains salts, which increase electrical conductivity.
  6. tranquil
    not agitated
    Hooked to a skin response machine, the modern-day Phineases are shown a series of emotionally charged pictures—a tranquil landscape, a beautiful woman, a severed foot.
  7. severed
    detached by cutting
    Hooked to a skin response machine, the modern-day Phineases are shown a series of emotionally charged pictures—a tranquil landscape, a beautiful woman, a severed foot.
  8. digitize
    put into a format that can be read or processed by computers
    The results are digitized so the specifics of Phineas's skull can be overlaid onto a three-dimensional computer image of a generic human skull.
  9. hypothetical
    based primarily on surmise rather than adequate evidence
    A line is drawn between their center point to lay out a hypothetical path for the tamping iron.
  10. reassemble
    put back together again
    Damasio turns to a computer program called Brainvox that is used to reassemble brain scan "slices" into a three-dimensional model.
  11. integrate
    make into a whole or make part of a whole
    These areas integrate your sensory input and muscle actions so you keep oriented in space and in motion.
  12. curiosity
    something unusual, maybe worthy of collecting
    If you want to see Phineas, you have to ask permission at the library's front desk, but generally they will send you straight up to the fifth floor, where Phineas resides in Harvard's collection of medical curiosities.
  13. neurologist
    a medical specialist in the nervous system
    Psychologists, surgeons, and neurologists came from all over the world to present scientific papers on frontal cortex injuries.
  14. unveil
    remove the cover from
    At the end of the celebration, the town unveiled a boulder of Vermont granite on the village green with a bronze plaque as a permanent memorial to Phineas.
  15. dedication
    a ceremony in which something is given to a goal or purpose
    The climax was the dedication of a memorial plaque explaining what had happened to Phineas and to brain science as a result.
Created on Wed Apr 08 08:23:14 EDT 2026 (updated Fri Apr 10 17:53:49 EDT 2026)

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