Neuroimaging before Neuroimaging

The physiologist Angelo Mosso (1846–1910) is one of the most important, yet often neglected, pioneers in the history of neuroimaging. He studied medicine in Turin, before visiting leading laboratories in Florence, Leipzig, and Paris, where he learned graphical methods to analyze physiological dynamics. Back in Turin, he applied some of these methods to the circulation in the human brain. With the “Mosso method,” he could record a series of local increases in blood flow during tasks of various nature in patients with skull damage. He also invented and refined several instruments, including the “human circulation balance,” which can be considered the first ante litteram noninvasive “neuroimaging” technique and the conceptual forerunner of neuroimaging. Moreover, Mosso established one of the oldest neuroscience journals globally and launched the first physiology laboratory in altitude, championed the importance of physical activity in schools, and wrote popular science books.