[Norman Geschwind: career and works]

Norman Geschwind was an outstanding American neurologist. He first majored in psychology and then medicine at Harvard University. After graduation, he received neurological training at Beth Israel Hospital, the National Hospital at Queen Square in London, and Boston City Hospital, under the guidance of Denny-Brown, Charles Symonds, and Fred Quadfasel. He later moved to the Boston Veterans Administration Hospital, and established the Boston University Aphasia Research Center with Edith Kaplan. This center played a cardinal role in aphasia research in the United States. In 1969, Geschwind became a Professor at Harvard Medical School. Disconnection syndromes, which made Geschwind's name famous worldwide in the field of neurology, are reviewed here in regard to pure alexia, conduction aphasia, pure word deafness, isolation of the speech area, and apraxia, with reference to the Wernicke-Geschwind model. Other contributions by Geschwind are also described, such as behavioral changes in temporal lobe epilepsy (Geschwind syndrome) and cerebral lateralization, including the Geschwind-Galaburda hypothesis.