Paleoneurology

Tilly Edinger

Her contributions to the field of paleoneurobiology include determining the extent to which endocasts reflect the anatomy of ancient brains, the adequacy of comparative anatomy to interpret brain evolution, the ability of brain endocasts to predict the lifestyles of extinct organisms, and if brain size has increased over geological time; topics which are still being explored today. In her later years, Edinger corresponded with the next generation of paleoneurobiologists, which insured that the work from her 50-year career continued into the future. The pinnacle accomplishment of her career was the compilation of an annotated bibliography of paleoneurobiological papers published between 1804 and 1966. The bibliography, Paleoneurology 1804–1966, was completed and published by colleagues posthumously in 1975 due to the untimely death of Edinger from injuries sustained during a traffic accident in 1967.