The first modern surgery on the frontal lobes for treatment of mental disorders was performed by Antonio Egas Moniz at Santa Marta Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal. Moniz injected absolute alcohol into the frontal lobes of a mental patient through two holes drilled in the skull. Later in the year, Moniz used a technique that severed neurons by rotating a wire loop inside the brain. This latter method led to the prefrontal lobotomy techniques of the 1940s. In 1949, Moniz won a Nobel prize for this work.

Type of event: Other Notable Event

Country: Portugal

Region: Europe and the former USSR