Viktor Mucha (17 April 1877 in Königgrätz – 6 June 1933 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) was a

dermatologist Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medi ...

from Austria. He was involved in early

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

research. He studied medicine at the universities of

and

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1904. From 1905 he worked as an assistant under

Ernst Finger Ernst Anton Franz Finger (name also spelled Ernest; 8 July 1856 – 17 April 1939) was an Austrian dermatologist born in Prague. He was a leading authority regarding venereal disease. In 1878 he obtained his medical doctorate at the University of ...

in the department of skin and venereal diseases at Vienna. He was also a physician at the Kaiserin-Elisabethspital (1909–13) and the St. Anna-Kinderspital (1913/14). In 1912 he obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

for dermatology and syphilology at the university, becoming an associate professor in 1921. In 1906, with

Karl Landsteiner Karl Landsteiner (; 14 June 1868 – 26 June 1943) was an Austrian-American biologist, physician, and immunologist. He emigrated with his family to New York in 1923 at the age of 55 for professional opportunities, working for the Rockefeller ...

, he developed the technique of

dark-field microscopy Dark-field microscopy, also called dark-ground microscopy, describes microscopy methods, in both light and electron microscopy, which exclude the unscattered beam from the image. Consequently, the field around the specimen (i.e., where there is ...

to visualize the organisms that cause syphilis.

Pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta Pityriasis lichenoides et varioliformis acuta is a disease of the immune system. It is the more severe version of pityriasis lichenoides chronica. The disease is characterized by rashes and small lesions on the skin. The disease is more common in ...

is sometimes referred to as "Mucha-Habermann disease"; a skin disorder named in conjunction with German dermatologist Rudolf Habermann (1884–1941).Eponyms in the Dermatology Literature linked to Austria
Our Dermatol Online. 2013; 4(Suppl. 2): 433-434

References

Austrian dermatologists 1877 births 1933 deaths Academic staff of the University of Vienna University of Vienna alumni University of Strasbourg alumni Scientists from Hradec Králové Austrian venereologists Dermatologists from Austria-Hungary {{Austria-med-bio-stub

See also

References