Alzheimer, Alois

PSYCHIATRIST, NEUROPATHOLOGIST (BAVARIA)
BORN 14 Jun 1864, Marktbreit, Bayern: Ochsenfurter Strasse 15a - DIED 19 Dec 1915, Breslau (now: Wroclaw)
BIRTH NAME Alzheimer, Aloysius
CAUSE OF DEATH kidney failure
GRAVE LOCATION Frankfurt am Main, Hessen: Hauptfriedhof (Gewann J, an der Mauer 447a)

Son of the notary Eduard Alzheimer. He studied medicin in Würzburg and Tübingen. In 1887 he was promoted in Würzburg and in 1888 he became assistant to the psychiatrist Heinrich Hoffmann, (who was also known as the author of the Struwwelpeter stories) at the Städtischen Anstalt für Irre und Epileptische in Frankfurt am Main. There he researched old people with amnesia.

In 1901 he observed Auguste Deter, who behaved strangely and suffered from a loss of her short term memory. In 1902 he moved to Heidelberg where he became assistant to Emil Kraepelin. In 1904 he followed Kraepelin to Munich.

In 1906 Auguste Deter died and her records and brain were brought to Munich. Together with two Italian collegues he combined pathology with clinical symptoms. In November the findings were presented in a speech on presenile dementia. Kraepelin named the disease after Alzheimer.

In 1912 he became a professor at the University of Breslau. Shortly after his appointment he fell ill on the train to Breslau and he never fully recovered from it. In 1915 he died of heart failure, aged only 51. He was buried in Frankfurt am Main next to his wife Cecilie, who had died in 1904.

Related persons
• was pupil of Kraepelin, Emil

Images

The grave of Alois Alzheimer at the Hauptfriedhof, Frankfurt am Main.
Picture by Androom (20 Dec 2014)

 

Sources
Internet
Alois Alzheimer - Wikipedia
Start


Amann, Max

Published: 26 Dec 2014
Last update: 19 Dec 2023