Samuel Alexander Kinnier Wilson (December 6, 1878 – May 12, 1937) was an American-born British

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 ...

. His research of hepatolenticular degeneration led the disease to be named after him as Wilson's disease. He was the father of British

Assyriologist Assyriology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''Assyriā''; and , ''-logy, -logia''), also known as Cuneiform studies or Ancient Near East studies, is the archaeological, anthropological, historical, and linguistic study of the cultures that used cune ...

James Kinnier Wilson.

Biography

He was born in Cedarville, New Jersey. A year after Wilson's birth, his father died and his family moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. In 1902 he graduated with an M.B. from the University of Edinburgh Medical School, and during the following year he received his B.Sc. in

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

. Afterwards he traveled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he studied with neurologists Pierre Marie (1853–1940) and Joseph Babinski (1857–1932). In 1905 he relocated to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he worked as registrar and pathologist at the National Hospital, Queens Square. Later, he was appointed professor of neurology at King's College Hospital. Wilson specialized in clinical neurology, and made important contributions in his studies of

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

, narcolepsy,

apraxia Apraxia is a motor disorder caused by damage to the brain (specifically the posterior parietal cortex or corpus callosum), which causes difficulty with motor planning to perform tasks or movements. The nature of the damage determines the di ...

and

speech disorders Speech disorders, impairments, or impediments, are a type of communication disorder in which normal manner of articulation, speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering and cluttering. Someone who is unable to speak due to ...

. He described hepatolenticular degeneration in his Gold Medal winning M.D. dissertation of 1912 titled "Progressive lenticular degeneration" from the University of Edinburgh Medical School. He was honored for his research of the disease, and afterwards the disorder became known as " Wilson's disease". From his treatise, he is credited for introducing the term " extrapyramidal" into neurological medicine. Wilson published several influential works in the field of neurology, and in 1920 was founding editor of the ''Journal of Neurology and Psychopathology'', later to become known as the '' Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry''. In 1940, his two-volume work, ''Neurology'', was published posthumously. Just before his death, Sir Charles Sherrington (1857–1952) had been working with Dr. Edgar Adrian (later Lord Adrian of Cambridge, 1889–1977) on getting him elected as a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Samuel Alexander Kinnier 1878 births 1937 deaths People from Lawrence Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey British neurologists American emigrants to Scotland Medical doctors from Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh