A rendered image of how the rod went through Phineas' head.

One of the earliest documented cases of severe brain injury to the frontal lobes in which the individual survived was the case of Phineas Gage, a railroad foreman who sustained a frontal lobe injury in September, 1848. Although Gage lived 13 years after the injury, he suffered immediate and obvious changes to his personality. For a more detailed description of the case of Phineas Gage, click here.