Dr. Wilder Penfield

Wilder Penfield was born in Spokane, Washington in 1891, son (and grandson) of a medical doctor. When Wilder was only 8 years old, his brother, sister and he moved with their mother across the country and away from their father to Hudson, Wisconsin, where Wilder graduated from Galahad Private School, top of his class.

At age 13, Wilder's mother discovered the newly established Rhodes scholarship, a generous amount of money for individuals with intellectual, as well as athletic talents to attend Ivy League schools. At 13, with "the mind of a plodder" and a gangly, unsportly body, young Wilder began training to receive the prestigious scholarship.