Sir Victor Horsley was a pioneer in the fields of neurosurgery and neurophysiology. In 1887, he performed the first successful operation to remove a spinal tumor. Advancements in the understanding of localized brain function, and practical surgical innovations, developed by Horsley made neurosurgery a medical possibility.

The son of a renowned artist, Horsley was born in London but raised in Cranbrook, Kent. He then pursued studies in medicine at University College, London, and continued his career at the university hospital after graduation. He began his research with a series of investigations into the function and physiology of glands. In various animal experiments, Horsley proved that the thyroid gland was key to a specimen's rate of growth and development. Though he did not establish how exactly how the thyroid worked, or understand the workings of hormones in the endocrine system, Horsley identified gland malfunction as the cause of several diseases...