Man with No Memory | The Accident | S55-E1

American Innovations

Wondery

Steven Johnson, History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids, Science

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 11 November 2021

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Even as recently as the early 1950s, we didn’t understand that there were different types of memory, or how the brain processed and stored memories. Then, in 1953, a radical surgery by a reckless doctor gave us tremendous insights into how human memory works. Those scientific gains came at a terrible cost, however. The surgery left the patient, Henry Molaison, a profound amnesiac -- completely incapable of forming new memories. This is his story.

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Transcript

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0:23.0	It's a warm summer evening in 1935.
0:27.0	It's a warm summer evening in 1935 on a residential street in Manchester, Connecticut.
0:37.0	Nine-year-old Henry Molacian holds his breath as his father winds up and hurls of baseball high in the air like a pop fly.
0:46.0	Henry settles under the ball and watches it descend, holding his baseball glove over his head.
0:51.5	He flinches as the ball bounces off the heel of his glove and rolls onto the grass.
0:56.0	Hey keep your eye on the ball son. I'm trying dad. Henry picks up the ball and whips it back with his eyes cast down.
1:04.1	It sails high towards their front windows.
1:06.6	Henry cringes.
1:07.9	But his father, Gus, leaps and grabs it with a grin.
1:11.5	Now, Henry, squat down and play catcher. Let me get a few pitches in.
1:15.0	Suddenly, Henry's mom, Wizzy, calls out from the front steps.
1:19.0	Gus, no, he hates that. Henry, you don't have to play catcher if you don't feel like it.
1:24.0	Henry bristles at this. He hates the pity in her voice.
1:28.0	His mom has always been overprotective of him. But he's not a toddler anymore. He's nine years old. He ignores her and looks at his dad.
1:36.0	I'll play catcher. You sure, son? Henry nods and smacks his fist and his glove like he's seen his dad do.
1:42.8	Atta boy!
	...

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