fissure of Rolando

Rolando, Luigi (1773–1831), Italian anatomist and physiologist. Rolando did his early research on the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system in humans and animals, using comparative methods. His most important studies, however, concerned the anatomy, physiology, and embryology of the brain. He paid particular interest to the gray matter. He was the first to investigate the functions of the cerebellum. In an 1824 report on the brain he described the motor area in the cerebral cortex comprising both the precentral and the postcentral gyri. This area is now known as the Rolandic area. In 1825 he published his observations on the cerebellum. One of the features described was a fissure between the parietal and frontal lobes. This is now often called the fissure of Rolando.