Institute of Anatomy and Histology, University of Verona, Italy. marina1@borgoroma.univr.it
Anatomicalstudy of the brain of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the intellectual leader ofthe Russian October revolution, was conducted in an unusual context.Lenin died in 1924, at 54 years of age, as a consequence of progressivecerebrovascular disease. The eminent German neuroscientist Oskar Vogt(1870-1959) was requested by the Soviet government to examine Lenin‘sbrain; an Institute for Brain Research, directed by Vogt, was foundedfor this purpose in Moscow. Tens of thousands of sections were cutserially through Lenin‘s brain. In his official report in 1929, Vogtadduced that pyramidal neurons of layer III in several areas of Lenin‘scerebral cortex were exceptionally large and numerous. Based on hisopinion that these cells might subserve "associative thinking," Vogtapparently believed that this structural peculiarity could account forthe strikingly acute and penetrating mental processes that hadcharacterized Lenin‘s personality. Vogt‘s scientific activity, thecultural and political context of the study of Lenin‘s brain, and itsmodern implications are discussed briefly.
PMID: 9886779 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
