Broca's area of the brain (highlighted here) helps with speech processing. Dr. Paul Broca noted that damage to this general region of the brain was associated with aphasia after interacting with a patient nicknamed "Tan." (Image credit: Polygon data were generated by Database Center for Life Science(DBCLS), CC-BY-SA-2.1-jp ) QUICK FACTS Milestone: Autopsy on famous patient "Tan" Date: April 18, 1861 Where: Bicêtre Hospital, outside Paris Who: Dr. Paul Broca On April 18, 1861, a doctor in Paris cut open the brain of a patient who had died the day before — and unwittingly identified a brain region that's key to spoken language. The patient, Louis Victor Leborgne, was nicknamed "Tan" by doctors at Bicêtre Hospital because it was one of the only words he could say. By the time he died at age 51, he had spent 21 years living in the psychiatric ward of the hospital. Leborgne was reportedly healthy at birth but began having epileptic seizures in early childhood. At age 30, he lost his ability to speak.…