(2014) The Machine That Tried To Scan The Brain — In 1882

[Snow Leopard]

Now scientists have uncovered new details about the man you might call "the da Vinci" of modern brain science. He was a physiologist named Angelo Mosso who lived in Italy during the 19th century, and until several years ago his manuscripts were mostly collecting dust in the archives of an Italian university.

Inside the manuscripts, researchers found sketches of a contraption built in 1882: the first machine designed to watch the brain at work. It didn't resemble modern brain scanners in any sense.

Brain scanning, 19th century style!
https://www.npr.org/2014/08/17/340906546/the-machine-that-tried-to-scan-the-brain-in-1882

Also notably, Angelo Mosso wrote a textbook on fatigue (La fatica) in 1891, the ideas of which have been repeatedly (re)"discovered" over the decades since.