Walther Spielmeyer (23 April 1879 – 6 February 1935) was a German

neuropathologist Neuropathology is the study of disease of nervous system tissue, usually in the form of either small surgical biopsies or whole-body autopsies. Neuropathologists usually work in a department of anatomic pathology, but work closely with the cli ...

who was a native of

Dessau Dessau is a district of the independent city of Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Until 1 July 2007, it was an independent ...

Biography

He studied medicine at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

as a student of

Eduard Hitzig Eduard Hitzig (6 February 1838 – 20 August 1907) was a German neurologist and neuropsychiatrist of Jewish ancestryAndrew P. Wickens, ''A History of the Brain: From Stone Age Surgery to Modern Neuroscience'', Psychology Press (2014), p. 226 ...

(1838-1907). At Halle he was influenced by the work of psychiatrists Karl Heilbronner (1869-1914), Gustav Aschaffenburg (1866-1944) and pathologist Karl Joseph Eberth (1835-1926). In 1906 he relocated to

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

as an assistant to Alfred Hoche (1865-1943). At the suggestion of

Emil Kraepelin Emil Wilhelm Georg Magnus Kraepelin (; ; 15 February 1856 – 7 October 1926) was a German psychiatrist. H. J. Eysenck's Encyclopedia of Psychology identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology and psychiatric ...

(1856-1926), he succeeded

Alois Alzheimer Alois Alzheimer ( , , ; 14 June 1864 – 19 December 1915) was a German psychiatrist, neuropathologist and colleague of Emil Kraepelin. He is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin later ide ...

(1864-1915) as director of the ''Anatomisches Laboratorium der Psychiatrischen und Nervenklinik'' in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. At Munich he worked with Franz Nissl (1860-1919) and Felix Plaut (1877-1940). In 1928 the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

financed the

Kaiser Wilhelm Institute The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science () was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organi ...

with Spielmeyer as director of the ''Hirnpathologisches Institut''. He died of

pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

on February 6, 1935.

Research

Spielmeyer is remembered for his research of

peripheral nervous system The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is one of two components that make up the nervous system of Bilateria, bilateral animals, with the other part being the central nervous system (CNS). The PNS consists of nerves and ganglia, which lie outside t ...

injuries as well as his specialized study of disturbed

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

function caused by temporary circulation problems.Founders of Neurology; University of Illinois at Chicago
(biographical information) He is credited with making significant contributions involving the function of

glia Glia, also called glial cells (gliocytes) or neuroglia, are non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system (the brain and the spinal cord) and in the peripheral nervous system that do not produce electrical impulses. The neuroglia make up ...

in inflammatory processes and on the pathophysiology of

cerebral blood flow Cerebral circulation is the movement of blood through a network of cerebral arteries and veins supplying the brain. The rate of cerebral blood flow in an adult human is typically 750 milliliters per minute, or about 15% of cardiac output. ...

in neurological-psychiatric disorders. He was the author of highly regarded books on the neurohistology and

histopathology Histopathology (compound of three Greek words: 'tissue', 'suffering', and '' -logia'' 'study of') is the microscopic examination of tissue in order to study the manifestations of disease. Specifically, in clinical medicine, histopatholog ...

of the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...

; "''Technik der mikroskopischen Untersuchung des Nervensystems''" (1911) and "''Histopathologie des Neurvensystems''" (1922), the latter work being known for its excellent illustrations. He coined the term "

Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) is an incurable, always fatal neurodegenerative disease belonging to the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) group. Early symptoms include memory problems, behavioral changes, poor coordination, visu ...

" to refer to a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease first described separately by the eponymous German neurologists.Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease
@

Who Named It ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograp ...

Associated eponym

* '' Spielmeyer-Vogt disease'': A congenital progressive

lysosome A lysosome () is a membrane-bound organelle that is found in all mammalian cells, with the exception of red blood cells (erythrocytes). There are normally hundreds of lysosomes in the cytosol, where they function as the cell’s degradation cent ...

dysfunction that usually presents itself around the age of five, and is characterized by cerebroretinal degeneration,

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

and early death. Named along with

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

Heinrich Vogt (1875-1936).

Selected writings

* ''Die Trypanosomenkrankheiten und ihre Beziehungen zu den syphilogenen Nervenkrankheiten'' (

Trypanosomiasis Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus ''Trypanosoma''. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other disea ...

and its correlation to syphilitic nerve disorders). Jena, Fischer, 1908. * ''Technik der mikroskopischen Untersuchung des Nervensystems'' (Microscopic studies of the nervous system). Berlin, Springer, 1911; 4. Aufl., 1930. * ''Die progressive Paralyse''. In: Handbuch der Neurologie, Bd. 3; Berlin, 1912. * ''Zur Klinik und Anatomie der Nerven-Schussverletzungen''. Berlin, Springer, 1915. * ''Histopathologie des Nervensystems'' (Histopathology of the nervous system). Erster Band: Allgemeiner Teil. Berlin, J. Springer, 1922. * ''Degeneration und Regeneration am peripherischen Nerven''. (Degeneration and regeneration of the

). Handbuch der normalen und pathologischen Physiologie, Bd. 3; Berlin, 1929. * ''Die Anatomie der Psychosen''. (Anatomy of

psychosis In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...

). Handbuch der Geisteskrankheiten, Bd. 11; Berlin, 1930.

References

* This article is based on a translation of an equivalent article at the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

, source listed as
biography of Spielmeyer
@ NDB/ADB Deutsche Biographie {{DEFAULTSORT:Spielmeyer, Walther German neurologists German pathologists 1879 births 1935 deaths People from Dessau-Roßlau Tuberculosis deaths in Germany Max Planck Institute directors