Eleanor Maguire
1970-2025
November 7, 2025
Anyone who knows me, knows I love my MINI Cooper, which was originally developed in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. Though I’m no Charlize Theron in the movie “The Italian Job,” I sure do have fun maneuvering the little go-kart-like coop to get around town. I often think of what it would be like to drive through the bustling streets of London in these small little passenger cars, which is why I perked up when I came across the Wall Street Journal obituary of the Irish neuroscientist, Eleanor Maguire. Maguire was also fascinated by the high-traffic streets of London, but not because of the MINI Cooper drivers like me. Maguire was intrigued by the brains of the city’s cab drivers. So much so, that she conducted a scientific study about them at University College London, where she served as the Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and as a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Maguire, who was born in 1970 and recently departed this world all too young at the age of 54 after battling spinal cancer, specialized in studying the hippocampus of the brain. Maguire was interested in the neural basis of memory and studied the hippocampus, which plays an integral role in memories and brain development. Though she might not have been inspired by watching movies with high-speed chases in MINI Coopers, Maguire did feel inquisitive after watching a British movie called “The Knowledge” in which people train to become London cabdrivers.
The trailblazing neuroscientist that she was, Maguire conducted a study on how the human memory constructs scenes to show us how to get to places, using the London cabbies as the center of her study, according to the Wall Street Journal’s obit. While our brains aren’t necessarily playing out movies like we see on the big screen, she discovered that the brain does construct scenes for us to follow by relying heavily on memories. Her study concluded that London cabdrivers’ region of the hippocampus would grow the longer the cab driver was on the job, and conversely, shrink after retirement, proving her research and embarking on a new understanding of brain development.
When Maguire wasn’t exploring the parts of the brain that strengthen learning and memory-making, she would engage in many public lectures, contributions, and collaborations that encouraged people to think about the value and impact our brains—and science—have on our everyday lives. She was awarded numerous recognitions for outstanding contributions to society. She was even named one of the ‘Twenty Europeans Who Have Changed Our Lives,” by the European Union’s science and innovation initiative. Though Maguire never married, nor had children of her own, the outstanding scientist doted heavily on her two nephews and fostered her research as if it was family.
As I reflect on Maguire’s encouragement to recognize science in our everyday lives, I notice that while I make my morning coffee, my brain seems to be on autopilot. I can read my beloved Wall Street Journal articles, while simultaneously grabbing the fragrant beans from the cupboard, pushing the buttons on the coffee maker without looking, and pouring that delicious nectar into my favorite mug, all the while, not “thinking” about it…or was I just benefiting from a growing hippocampus?!
Dearly Departed profiles are the musings of SC Innovates’ Director and SmartState Endowed Chair Laura B. Cardinal. Cardinal is an academic researcher and teaches Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation at the University of South Carolina (USC) Darla Moore School of Business Professional MBA program. Her series of courses includes the Strategic Innovation Certificate. Cardinal’s courses offer a unique fusion of innovation, business strategy, science, and technology.