Gudden, Bernard von

NEUROANATOMIST, PSYCHIATRIST (GERMANY)
BORN 7 Jun 1824, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen - DIED 13 Jun 1886, Starnberger See (near Schloss Berg)
BIRTH NAME Gudden, Johann Bernhard Aloys von
GRAVE LOCATION München, Bayern: Ostfriedhof, St.-Martins-Platz 1 (left wall 5/6)

Bernard von Gudden studied in Bonn, Berlin and Halle. There he was promoted in 1848. He worked at the asylum in Siegburg under Carl Wigand Maximilian Jacobi (1775-1858) and from 1851 to 1855 at the asylum in Illenau, Baden. Between 1855 and 1869 he was the director of the Unterfränkische Landes-Irrenanstalt in Werneck, Bavaria. In 1869 he relocated to Zürich, where he became the director of the Burghölzli Hospital and a professor at the university.

Von Gudden was specialized in neuroanatomy and advocated a humane treatment of the patients at the institutions that he directed. His next station was professor of psychiatry at the University of Munich. He was also the personal physician of King Ludwig II. On 13 Jun 1886 Von Gudden and the king were both found dead in Lake Starnberg. It was only a few days after Ludwig had been declared unfit to rule and it is unknown what happened. In 1889 his son in law Hubert von Grasney published "Bernhard von Gudden’s gesammelte und hinterlassene Abhandlungen".

Related persons
• employed Kraepelin, Emil
• was physician to Otto I, könig von Bayern

Events
13/6/1886Ludwig II of Bavaria drowns in the Starnbergersee. His psychiatrist, Dr. Berhard von Gudden, drowned as well. Probably in an attempt to rescue the king. 

Images

The grave of Bernard von Gudden at the Otfriedhof, Munich.
Picture by Androom (19 Aug 1995)

 

Sources
Grafmonument
Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (editie 1909), 1909


Gudehus, Heinrich

Published: 29 May 2011
Last update: 12 Aug 2023