Penfield

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Wilder Penfield, the Canadian neurosurgeon who mapped the brain's motor and sensory areas ; a town or community in the United States bearing this name
2. The surname of Wilder Penfield, a pioneering brain surgeon in Montreal ; a place in the United States that takes its name from a person
3. A family name associated with the neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield ; a name given to several American towns and communities

Etymology: Most people know this name as the surname of Wilder Penfield, the Canadian neurosurgeon who operated on patients while they were awake. He applied small electrical currents to the surface of the brain and recorded what they felt. The resulting map of the motor cortex, often drawn as a distorted figure called the "homunculus," still appears in neuroscience textbooks. As a surname and place name, Penfield is an English compound of "pen" and "field." The first element most likely refers to an enclosure for animals, and the second to open land, so the name probably described a fenced field. Surnames of this kind were often taken from the land a family farmed or held.