This Country Led the World in the 19th Century
Some of the most brilliant medical researchers in the 19th century and early 20th century were German. These names included Virchow, Schwann, Kahlbaum, Alzheimer, Nissl, Kraepelin, etc. Germany led the world in psychiatry. This was in part due to wise government funding of medical research. Even Roentgen, who invented the X-ray, was German. In the 20th century Berger invented the EEG.
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In the 19th century Rudolph Virchow, who was both a doctor and a politician, changed the world of medicine with his theory of "cellular pathology". Virchow thought that the best approach to disease was to study the cell. In the 20th century the American genius Linus Pauling changed things when he favored a molecular approach to disease. However, both may have been correct. The reason is that the cell, especially when viewed with an electron microscope, can tell the scientist a lot about what is going on with the molecules. The treatment is molecular.
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Shown here is Franz Nissl, who was born in 1860 and died in 1919. Nissl, among other things, discovered what are now called "Nissl bodies". At that time they were called "granulae".
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This map of Germany is from the World Factbook website. The area surrounding Germany also has made contributions, including Switzerland and Czechoslovakia. Switzerland contributed Rorschadt, Jung, Bleuler, W. R. Hess, and others. Czechoslovakia produced Purkinjie. Italy and Spain have also contributed great scientists.
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Shown here is Dr. Hans Berger, who invented the EEG. Berger was unable to find anything substantial in schizophrenia because he only used surface electrodes. Heath later found abnormalities in schizophrenia using depth electrodes. Heath was from New Orleans.
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This is Dr. Wilhelm Griesinger of the 19th century. Griesinger favored a neurological basis for psychiatric disease. History has shown him to be a prophet.
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This clipart of Rudolph Virchow, who died in 1902, was from a German university website.
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This is Emil Kraepelin. In 1877 Kraepelin worked with Wilhelm Wundt, the famous German psychologist. This relationship did not last, however. Later he worked with Alzheimer and Nissl.
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Shown here are the zones studied by Dr. Paul Flechsig. The clipart is from the University of Illinois neurology website.
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This is Dr. Joham Thudichum, who was an expert on neurochemistry, which was in its infancy in the 19th century.
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Shown here are doctors Oskar & Cecile Vogt, a famous husband & wife team of neuropathologists. They lived and died in the 20th century. The German dominance of medicine waned after World War I. Germany poured more money into the military and less money into medical research. An exception was the corrupt attempt to create a master race by Dr. Jospeh Mengele, probably the most evil doctor of all time. This attempt failed. One of the errors made was that they tried to exterminate the Jews, who included some of the most brilliant minds in Germany. They also exterminated disabled people because they wanted tax money to go into the military rather than supporting the disabled. However, the Vogts were completely innocent of this. Jung, from Switzerland, unfortunately criticized Freud's views because Freud was Jewish. Kraepelin, on the other hand, criticized Freud's views because they were "castles in the air". Freud was from Austria but moved to England where he committed suicide by a drug overdose in 1939.
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