Eponym:

Korbinian Brodmann (1868 – 1918) was a German neuropsychiatrist renowned for his work on cortical cytoarchitectonics. Born in Liggersdorf, Prussia, he extensively studied medicine at the universities of Munich, Würzburg, Berlin, Freiburg, and Lausanne, earning his medical diploma in 1895. He was then awarded a doctorate in medicine in 1898 from the University of Leipzig, after successfully defending his thesis on chronic ependymal sclerosis.[1] In the year 1900, Brodmann briefly worked in the psychiatric clinic at the University of Jena, where he met Ludwig Binswanger, an influential pioneer in the field of existential psychology.[2] Brodmann would also work in the Municipal Mental Asylum in Frankfurt; interestingly, it is here where he would have a chance encounter with Alois Alzheimer, who greatly encouraged him to pursue a career in neuroanatomy.[1] These experiences would convince Brodmann to begin a mentorship with Oskar Vogt and Cécile Vogt-Mugnier in Berlin, which would shape his successive approaches to brain mapping.[1] 

 

In 1909, Brodmann published Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Großhirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues (Comparative Localization Theory in the Cortex Based on Cytoarchitectonics), which introduced the first detailed map of the cerebral cortex, identifying 52 distinct regions, which he coined as the Brodmann areas.[3] This work remains foundational in neuroanatomy, linking cortical structure to function. In the human brain, Brodmann described 47 areas, which he numbered sequentially. Areas 48–52 were described in non-human primates and may not have direct homologs in the human brain.[4] ​