Richard Wolfgang Semon is a relatively unknown but nevertheless important figure in the history of research on learning and memory. Although little noticed by both his contemporaries and memory researchers today, Semon anticipated numerous modern theories and, perhaps ironically, created one of the best known terms in the memory literature, engram.

Semon was born in Berlin on August 22, 1859. His father, Simon, was a stockbroker, and the Semon family became part of the upper echelon of Berlin Jewish society during Richard's childhood. Simon's severe losses in the stock market crash of 1873 imposed a much humbler lifestyle on the family. Semon's older brother, Felix, left Germany after receiving a medical degree and practiced in England, where he became a historic pioneer of clinical and scientific laryngology.

As a child, Richard Semon expressed a strong interest in biology and zoology. He attended the University of Jena—a...