Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682-1771): his anatomic majesty's contributions to the neurosciences.

INTRODUCTION: Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the Father of Pathology and contributed much to our early understanding of neuropathology. For example, he introduced the concept that diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease must be based on an exact understanding of the pathologic changes in anatomic structures. Additionally, he contributed to what would become the discipline of neurosurgery and, for example, performed trepanation for head trauma. CONCLUSIONS: It is the contributions of such early pioneers as Morgagni that our current understanding of the neurosciences is based.