David Ferrier

David Ferrier (Aberdeen, 1843 – London, 1928) was a Scottish physician who pioneered neurology and experimental psychology. He is best remembered for showing that specific areas of the cerebral cortex control motor functions, an idea that changed how the brain was understood.

After studying in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, he worked as a scientific assistant to Alexander Bain, one of the founders of associative psychology. In 1870 he moved to London, where he worked as a neuropathologist and formed a close friendship with John Hughlings Jackson, who became his mentor. Building on the work of Hitzig and Fritsch on dogs, Ferrier applied electrical stimulation to the cortex of rabbits, dogs and macaque monkeys. His 1876 book The Functions of the Brain won international fame and is now regarded as a classic of neuroscience.

His most contested proposal was to transfer cortical maps obtained in monkeys to the human brain, a scientifically flawed extrapolation that nonetheless paved the way for clinical practice. In 1884, Macewen, Bennett and Godlee used careful neurological examination to locate tumours, a method that survives in functional neuroimaging. Ferrier also helped found the journal Brain in 1878.