Wilder Penfield was appointed as Chair of McGill University’s newly created Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery in 1930 and Director of the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) in 1933. The departmental structure allowed Penfield to develop his own research priorities, and the MNI’s clinics and laboratories allowed residents to train in neurosurgery and in basic science under one roof. This paper reviews the research performed by neurosurgical residents under Penfield’s direction from 1934 to 1945 and argues that their initiation to laboratory research contributed to the emergence of neuroscience following the Second World War.

Few paediatric cardiologists know of Maude Abbott. Yet before Helen Taussig, no one contributed more to founding the speciality than Maude Abbott. She achieved international fame as the early 20th century expert on cardiac malformations. We summarise here her life and contributions, indicating how she is more than justified in being inducted to the Hall of Fame.

The literature has scant documentation of the relationship between the important founders of paediatric cardiology, Maude Abbott and Helen Taussig. Recently discovered entries in the diaries kept by Maude Abbott provide evidence for a close connection between them. Further evidence suggests that their association was complex, and influenced by outside factors, such as their difference in age and era-related notoriety. In this review, I attempt to define more clearly the relationship between these two early icons of paediatric cardiology.