The ancient Egyptians thought the seat of intelligence was in the heart. Because of this belief, during the mummification process, they would remove the brain but leave the heart in the body. The ancient Greeks were among the first people to study the brain. They attempted to understand the role of the brain & how it worked & to explain neural disorders.

Pierre Paul Broca (1824-1880) was a French physician, surgeon, & anatomist. He worked with patients who had brain damage. He concluded that different regions in the brain were involved in specific functions. The part of the brain known as Broca's area is responsible for some speech & other functions. Damage to this area during a stroke can lead to Broca's aphasia, when a person can no longer produce accurate or coherent speech.

Early in the 20th century, Santiago Ramóny Cajal, a Spanish pathologist & neuroscientist, hypothesized that the neurons are independent nerve cell units.

Since the 1950s, research & practice in modern neurology have made great strides, leading to developments in the treatment of stroke, cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis & other conditions. Scientific developments have enabled neuroscientists to study the nervous system's structure, functions, development, abnormalities, & ways it can be altered.