William Beecher Scoville (January 13, 1906 - February 25, 1984) was a neurosurgeon at Hartford Hospital

Hartford Hospital

Hartford Hospital is an acute care hospital located in the South End of Hartford, Connecticut. The hospital was formed in 1854 after the State of Connecticut granted a charter for the Formation of Hartford Hospital following a boiler explosion and resulting fire at the Fales and Grey Car Works...

. He performed surgery on Henry Gustav Molaison in 1953 to relieve epilepsy

Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

 that led to damage of Molaison's hippocampus

Hippocampus

The hippocampus is a major component of the brains of humans and other vertebrates. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in...

 and left him with memory disorder

Memory disorder

Memory can be defined as an organism's ability to encode, retain, and recall information. Disorders of memory can range from mild to severe, yet are all a result of damage to neuroanatomical structures; either in part or in full. This damage hinders the storage, retention and recollection of memories...

.

Biography

He was born on January 13, 1906. In 1953 he performed surgery on Henry Gustav Molaison. In 1965 a lawsuit was brought against him for malpractice. In the suit the patient claimed they made promises of positive outcomes from the surgery. Scoville died as the result of a car crash on February 25, 1984.