Johannes Karl Eugen Alfred Goldscheider (4 August 1858 – 10 April 1935) was a German

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 ...

born into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretical p ...

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. He studied medicine at Friedrich-Wilhelm Medical-Surgical Institute in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(promotion 1881), and subsequently spent the next seven years as a military physician. During this period of time, he also served as an assistant to

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

Emil du Bois-Reymond Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond (7 November 1818 – 26 December 1896) was a German physiologist, the co-discoverer of nerve action potential, and the developer of experimental electrophysiology. His lectures on science and culture earned him grea ...

(1818-1896). He later became a professor at the

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. In Berlin, he served as directing physician at the ''Krankenhaus Moabit'' (from 1894) and at the ''Virchow-Krankenhaus'' (from 1906). In 1910 he succeeded Hermann Senator at the polyclinic.

Research

Goldscheider is best known for his work with the

somatosensory system The somatosensory system, or somatic sensory system is a subset of the sensory nervous system. The main functions of the somatosensory system are the perception of external stimuli, the perception of internal stimuli, and the regulation of bod ...

, in particular, research of the body's

thermoreceptor A thermoreceptor is a non-specialised sense Cutaneous receptor, receptor, or more accurately the receptive portion of a sensory neuron, that codes absolute and relative changes in temperature, primarily within the innocuous range. In the mammalian ...

s in regards to localized "coolness" and "warmness" spots. He also performed research of localized

tactile Tactile may refer to: * Tactile, related to the sense of touch * Haptics (disambiguation) * Tactile (device), a text-to-braille translation device * Tactile paving See also * Tangibility, in law * Somatosensory system The somatosensory s ...

skin sensitivity that included tests involving "pain" and "tickle" sensations. The eponymous terms; "Goldscheider's test" and "Goldscheider's percussion" are derived from his research. During this time period (the early 1880s), Swedish physician

Magnus Blix Magnus Gustaf Blix (25 December 1849 – 14 February 1904) was a Swedish physiologist born in the parish Säbrå, presently located in Härnösand Municipality. He is the grandfather of UN weapons inspector Hans Blix. During his career he was a p ...

(1849-1904) of the

University of Uppsala Uppsala University (UU) () is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially founded in the 15th century, the university rose to s ...

was performing similar tests, independent of Goldscheider. In the late 1890s, with

Edward Flatau Edward Flatau (27 December 1868 – 7 June 1932) was a Polish neurologist and psychiatrist. He was a co-founder of the modern Polish neurology, an authority on the physiology and pathology of meningitis, co-founder of medical journals ''Neurolo ...

(1868-1932), Goldscheider performed studies on the structure of

nerve cell A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an excitable cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network in the nervous system. They are located in the nervous system and help to ...

s and their changes under different stimuli. Also, he is credited with describing the skin disorder,

epidermolysis bullosa Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a group of rare medical conditions that result in easy blistering of the skin and mucous membranes. Blisters occur with minor trauma or friction and are painful. Its severity can range from mild to fatal. Inherite ...

, a condition sometimes called "Goldscheider's disease". Goldscheider died in Berlin.

Selected works

* ''Die lehre von den specifischen energieen der sinnesnerven'', 1881 – The doctrine associated with specific energies of the

sensory nerve A sensory nerve, or afferent nerve, is a nerve that contains exclusively afferent nerve fibers. Nerves containing also motor fibers are called mixed nerve, mixed. Afferent nerve fibers in a sensory nerve carry sensory system, sensory information ...

s. * ''Eine neue Methode der Temperatursinnprüfung'', 1887 – A new method of temperature sensory testing. * ''Diagnostik der nervenkrankheiten'', 1893 – Diagnosis of diseases involving the nervous system. * ''Gesammelte abhandlungen'', 1898 – Collected memoirs. * ''Physiologie der Hautsinnesnerven'', 1898 – Physiology of skin sensory nerves. * ''Normale und pathologische Anatomie der Nervenzellen auf Grund der neueren Forschungen'', 1898 (with Edward Flatau) – Normal and pathological anatomy of nerve cells on the basis of recent research. * ''Anleitung zur Übungs-Behandlung der Ataxie'', 1899 – Instructions for exercise treatment of

ataxia Ataxia (from Greek α- negative prefix+ -τάξις rder= "lack of order") is a neurological sign consisting of lack of voluntary coordination of muscle movements that can include gait abnormality, speech changes, and abnormalities in e ...

. * ''Das Schmerzproblem'', 1920 – Problems pertaining to pain.OCLC Classify
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldscheider, Alfred 1858 births 1935 deaths People from Lubsko Scientists from the Province of Brandenburg 19th-century German Jews German neurologists Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin