Editing Alois Alzheimer

{{short description|German psychiatrist and neuropathologist (1864–1915)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox medical person
|name                    = Alois Alzheimer
|image                   = Alois Alzheimer 003.jpg
|image_size              = 190
|caption                 = Alois Alzheimer
|birth_date              = {{birth date|1864|6|14|df=y}}
|birth_place             = [[Marktbreit]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]]<br />{{small|(now Marktbreit, Germany)}}
|death_date              = {{death date and age|1915|12|19|1864|6|14|df=y}}
|death_place             = [[Breslau]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], [[German Empire]]<br />{{small|(now Wrocław, Poland)}}
|profession              = Psychiatrist, physician
|specialism              = [[Neuropathology]]
|known_for               = First published case of "presenile [[dementia]]" ([[Alzheimer's disease]])
|spouse                  = {{marriage|Cecilie Simonette Nathalie Geisenheimer|1894|1901|end=died}}
|children                = 3
|education               = {{plainlist|
* [[University of Tübingen|Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen]]
* [[Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg]]
* [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Friedrich Wilhelm University]]
}}
|work_institutions       = {{plainlist|
* Institute for the Insane and Epileptic ("Irrenschloss"), [[Frankfurt]]
* [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]]
* [[University of Wroclaw|Silesian Friedrich Wilhelm University in Breslau]]
}}
|signature               = Alois Alzheimer signature.svg
}}

<!--WP:CREDENTIAL: Academic/professional titles (such as "Doctor" or "Professor") and postnominal degree abbreviations (such as "PhD") should not be used-->
'''Alois Alzheimer''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|l|t|s|h|aɪ|m|ər}} {{respell|ALTS|hy|mər}}, {{IPAc-en|USalso|ˈ|ɑː|l|t|s|-|,_|ˈ|ɔː|l|t|s|-}} {{respell|AHLTS|-|,_|AWLTS|-}},<ref>{{cite EPD|18|Alzheimer's disease}}</ref><ref>[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/alzheimer-s "Alzheimer's disease"]. ''[[Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary]]''.</ref> {{IPA|de|ˈaːlɔɪs ˈʔaltshaɪmɐ|lang}}; 14 June 1864 – 19 December 1915) was a German [[psychiatrist]], [[neuropathologist]] and colleague of [[Emil Kraepelin]]. He is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin later identified as [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Berrios|first=G. E.|date=1 November 1990|title=Alzheimer's disease: A conceptual history|journal=International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry|language=en|volume=5|issue=6|pages=355–65|doi=10.1002/gps.930050603|s2cid=145155424|issn=1099-1166}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Marktbreit Alzheimer-Geburtshaus 01.jpg|thumb|Alzheimer's birthplace]]
Alzheimer was born in [[Marktbreit]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]], on 14 June 1864, the son of Anna Johanna Barbara Sabina and Eduard Román Alzheimer.<ref name="zilka">{{cite journal|last=Zilka|first=N.|year=2006|title=The tangled story of Alois Alzheimer|url=http://bmj.fmed.uniba.sk/2006/107910-02.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://bmj.fmed.uniba.sk/2006/107910-02.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|journal=Bratisl Lek Listy|volume=107|issue=9–10|pages=343–45|pmid=17262985|author2=M. Novak|access-date=4 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YKDZ8D-rK7sC&q=%22A+Karl+y+Alois+les+sigue+Anna+Johanna%22&pg=PA36|title=Alzheimer. La vida de un médico y la historia de una enfermedad|first1=Konrad|last1=Maurer|first2=Ulrike|last2=Maurer|year=2006|publisher=Ediciones Díaz de Santos|isbn=978-84-7978-758-5}}</ref> His father served in the office of [[notary public]] in the family's hometown.<ref>[http://www.marktbreit.de/kultur_bildung/alzheimer_engl.htm "Alzheimer´s Birthplace"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221112532/http://www.marktbreit.de/kultur_bildung/alzheimer_engl.htm |date=21 December 2008 }}, marktbreit.de; accessed 14 July 2017.{{in lang|de}}</ref> The family was devoutly [[Catholic Church|Catholic]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hippius |first1=Hanns |last2=Neundörfer |first2=Gabriele |date=2003-03-31 |title=The discovery of Alzheimer's disease |journal=Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=101–108 |doi=10.31887/DCNS.2003.5.1/hhippius |issn=1958-5969 |pmc=3181715 |pmid=22034141}}</ref>

The Alzheimers moved to [[Aschaffenburg]] when Alois was still young in order to give their children an opportunity to attend the Royal Humanistic Gymnasium. After graduating with [[Abitur]] in 1883, Alzheimer studied medicine at [[Humboldt University Berlin|University of Berlin]], [[University of Tübingen]], and [[University of Würzburg]]. In his final year at university, he was a member of a fencing [[Studentenverbindung|fraternity]], and even received a fine for disturbing the peace while out with his team.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Cipriani|first1=Gabriele|last2=Dolciotti|first2=Cristina|last3=Picchi|first3=Lucia|last4=Bonuccelli|first4=Ubaldo|year=2011|title=Alzheimer and his disease: a brief history|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308726043|journal=Neurological Sciences|volume=32|issue=2|pages=275–79|doi=10.1007/s10072-010-0454-7|issn=1590-1874|pmid=21153601|s2cid=8483005}}</ref> In 1887, Alzheimer graduated from Würzburg as [[Doctor of Medicine]].<ref name=":0"/>

==Career==
In 1888, Alzheimer spent five months assisting mentally ill women before he took an office in the city mental asylum in [[Frankfurt]], the Städtische Anstalt für Irre und Epileptische (Asylum for Lunatics and Epileptics). {{Interlanguage link|Emil Sioli|lt=|de||WD=}}, a noted psychiatrist, was the dean of the asylum. Another neurologist, [[Franz Nissl]], began to work in the same asylum with Alzheimer. Together, they conducted research on the pathology of the nervous system, specifically the normal and pathological anatomy of the cerebral cortex.<ref name=":0"/> Alzheimer was the co-founder and co-publisher of the journal ''Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie'', though he never wrote a book that he could call his own.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hippius|first1=Hanns|last2=Neundörfer|first2=Gabriele|date=March 2003|title=The discovery of Alzheimer's disease|journal=Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience|volume=5|issue=1|pages=101–108|doi=10.31887/DCNS.2003.5.1/hhippius|issn=1294-8322|pmc=3181715|pmid=22034141}}</ref>

While at the Frankfurt asylum, Alzheimer also met [[Emil Kraepelin]], one of the best-known German psychiatrists of the time. Kraepelin became a mentor to Alzheimer, and the two worked very closely for the next several years. When Kraepelin moved to Munich to work at the Royal Psychiatric Hospital in 1903, he invited Alzheimer to join him.<ref name=":0"/>

At the time, Kraepelin was doing clinical research on psychosis in senile patients; Alzheimer, on the other hand, was more interested in the lab work of senile illnesses.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|title = Researching Dementia in Imperial Germany: Alois Alzheimer and the Economies of Psychiatric Practice|journal=Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry|issn=0165-005X|pages=405–13|volume=31|issue=3|doi=10.1007/s11013-007-9060-4|pmid = 17914665|first=Eric J.|last=Engstrom|year = 2007|s2cid=46566744}}</ref> They faced many challenges involving the politics of the psychiatric community. For example, formal and informal arrangements were made among psychiatrists at asylums and universities to receive cadavers.<ref name=":1"/>

In 1904, Alzheimer completed his [[habilitation]] at [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]], where he was appointed as a professor in 1908. Afterward, he left Munich for the [[University of Wroclaw|Silesian Friedrich Wilhelm University in Breslau]] in 1912, where he accepted a post as professor of psychiatry and director of the Neurologic and Psychiatric Institute. His health deteriorated shortly after his arrival so that he was hospitalized. He died three years later.<ref name=":0" />

Alzheimer is known for having a variety of medical interests including vascular diseases of the brain, early dementia, brain tumors, [[forensic psychiatry]] and [[epilepsy]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|title=Sign In|journal= American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease|volume=15|issue=4|pages=252–255|doi=10.1177/153331750001500404|year=2000|last1=Lefroy|first1=Richard B.|s2cid= 144484516}}</ref>
===Auguste Deter===
In 1901, Alzheimer observed a patient at the Frankfurt asylum named [[Auguste Deter]]. The 51-year-old patient had strange behavioral symptoms, including a loss of short-term memory; she became his obsession over the coming years. Auguste Deter was a victim of the politics of the time in the psychiatric community;<ref name=":1"/> the Frankfurt asylum was too expensive for her husband. Herr Deter made several requests to have his wife moved to a less expensive facility, but Alzheimer intervened in these requests. Auguste D., as she was known, remained at the Frankfurt asylum, where Alzheimer had made a deal to receive her records and brain upon her death, paying for the remainder of her stay in return.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Hyun Duk |display-authors=etal |title=History of Alzheimer's Disease |journal=Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders |date=December 2016 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=115–121 |doi=10.12779/dnd.2016.15.4.115 |pmid=30906352 |pmc=6428020 |url=}}</ref>

On 8 April 1906, Auguste Deter died, and Alzheimer had her medical records and brain brought to Munich where he was working in Kraepelin's laboratory. With two Italian physicians, he used the newly developed [[Bielschowsky stain]] to identify [[amyloid]] plaques and [[neurofibrillary tangles]]. These brain anomalies became identifiers of what is now known as [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/alois-alzheimer-21216461|title=Alois Alzheimer|date=2 April 2014|website=Biography.com|access-date=19 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180323115550/https://www.biography.com/people/alois-alzheimer-21216461|archive-date=23 March 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:-46.1- alois alzheimer 1906.jpg|thumb|First description of Alzheimer's dementia (1906)]]
On 3{{nbsp}}November 1906, Alzheimer discussed his findings on the brain pathology and symptoms of presenile dementia publicly, at the [[Tübingen]] meeting of the Southwest German Psychiatrists.<ref name=":0"/> The attendees at this lecture seemed uninterested in what he had to say. The lecturer that followed Alzheimer was to speak on the topic of "compulsive masturbation", which the audience of 88 individuals was so eagerly awaiting that they sent Alzheimer away without any questions or comments on his discovery of the pathology of a peculiar case of early-onset dementia.<ref name=":0"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Benjamin|first1=Sheldon|last2=MacGillivray|first2=Lindsey|last3=Schildkrout|first3=Barbara|last4=Cohen-Oram|first4=Alexis|last5=Lauterbach|first5=Margo D.|last6=Levin|first6=Leonard L.|date=2018-08-24|title=Six Landmark Case Reports Essential for Neuropsychiatric Literacy|journal=The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences|volume=30|issue=4|pages=279–290|doi=10.1176/appi.neuropsych.18020027|pmid=30141725|issn=0895-0172|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Following his presentation, Alzheimer published a short paper summarizing his presentation; in 1907 he wrote a longer paper detailing the disease and his findings.<ref name=":0"/> It became known as Alzheimer's disease in 1910, when Kraepelin named it so in the chapter on "Presenile and Senile Dementia" in the 8th edition of his ''Handbook of Psychiatry''. By 1911, his description of the disease was being used by European physicians to diagnose patients in the US.<ref name="AlzBook"/>

Additional case descriptions by Alzheimer and his colleagues continued in the following years, including older patients than the early-onset dementia of Auguste Deter.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alzheimer |first=A. |date=1911-12-01 |title=über eigenartige Krankheitsfälle des späteren Alters |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02866241 |journal=Zeitschrift für die gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie |language=de |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=356–385 |doi=10.1007/BF02866241 |issn=0303-4194}}</ref> Alzheimer eventually conceived "his" disease as mainly characterized clinically by a severe dementia with instrumental symptoms, and pathologically by extended [[Neurofibrillary tangle|neurofibrillary tangles]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last1=Villain |first1=Nicolas |last2=Michalon |first2=Robin |date=November 2024 |title=What is Alzheimer's disease? An analysis of nosological perspectives from the 20th and 21st centuries |journal=European Journal of Neurology |language=en |volume=31 |issue=11 |pages=e16302 |doi=10.1111/ene.16302 |issn=1351-5101 |pmc=11464395 |pmid=38618742}}</ref> He debated fiercely with [[Oskar Fischer]], a German-speaking pathologist from Prague, who instead emphasized on the importance of [[Amyloid plaques|neuritic plaques]] and of presbyophrenia<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Berrios |first=G. E. |date=May 1986 |title=Presbyophrenia: the rise and fall of a concept |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psychological-medicine/article/abs/presbyophrenia-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-concept/0C1B4AF45DB032E766A24334F92E7E34 |journal=Psychological Medicine |language=en |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=267–275 |doi=10.1017/S0033291700009089 |pmid=3726003 |issn=1469-8978}}</ref> as the phenotype.<ref name=":5" /> Finally, it must be highlighted that Fischer–Alzheimer's nosological considerations had less impact than [[Emil Kraepelin|Kraepelin]]'s 1910 Textbook of Psychiatry, which distinguished between "Alzheimer's disease" and senile dementia, including presbyophrenia. This textbook had a strong influence on early 20th century research on senile dementia and played a significant role in the classification of dementia in the following decades.<ref name=":5" />

==Personal life and death==
[[File:Alzheimer alois.jpg|thumb|Alzheimer in his later years just before his death ({{circa|1915}})]]
In 1894, Alzheimer married Cecilie Simonette Nathalie Geisenheimer, with whom he had three children. She died in 1901.
[[File:Alzheimer-ffm001.jpg|thumb|upright|Alzheimer's grave in Frankfurt]]
In August 1912, Alzheimer fell ill on the train on his way to the [[University of Breslau]], where he had been appointed professor of psychiatry in July 1912. Most probably a [[streptococcal]] infection and subsequent [[rheumatic fever]] led to [[valvular heart disease]], [[heart failure]] and [[kidney failure]]. He died of heart failure on 19 December 1915 at age 51, in [[Breslau]], [[Silesia Province|Silesia]] (present-day [[Wrocław]], Poland). His body was buried four days later, next to Cecilie's at the [[Frankfurt Main Cemetery]].<ref name=":8"/>

== Contemporaries ==
American [[Solomon Carter Fuller]] gave a report similar to that of Alzheimer at a lecture five months before Alzheimer.<ref name=":0"/> [[Oskar Fischer]] was a fellow German psychiatrist, twelve years Alzheimer's junior, who reported twelve cases of senile dementia in 1907 around the time that Alzheimer published his short paper summarizing his presentation.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|title=Prague: What say you, Alois{{snd}}Should it be 'Alzheimer-Fischer' disease?|last=Strobel|first=Gabrielle|journal=Journal of Alzheimer's Disease|volume=17|issue=3}}</ref>

Alzheimer and Fischer had different interpretations of the disease, but owing to Alzheimer's short life,<ref name=":2"/> they never had the opportunity to meet and discuss their ideas.<ref name=":8">{{cite web|url=http://www.alzforum.org/news/conference-coverage/tuebingen-man-behind-eponym#article-start|title=Tuebingen: The Man Behind the Eponym|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=16 November 2006|website=alzforum.org|publisher=Alzforum|access-date=25 January 2017}}</ref>

==Critics and rediscovery==
In the early 1990s, critics began to question Alzheimer's findings and form their own hypotheses based on Alzheimer's notes and papers. Amaducci and colleagues hypothesized that Auguste Deter had [[metachromatic leukodystrophy]], a rare condition in which accumulations of fats affect the cells that produce myelin.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|title=Reanalysis of the first case of Alzheimer's disease|journal=European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience|issn=0940-1334|pages=S10–13|volume=249|issue=3|doi=10.1007/PL00014167|pmid=10654094|first1=M. B.|last1=Graeber|first2=Parviz|last2=Mehraein|date=1 December 1999|s2cid=9063617}}</ref> Claire O'Brien, meanwhile, hypothesized that Auguste Deter actually had a [[vascular dementia|vascular dementing disease]].<ref name="AlzBook">{{cite book|author1=Maurer K.|url=https://archive.org/details/alzheimerlifeofp00maur|title=Alzheimer: The Life of a Physician and Career of a Disease|author2=Maurer U.|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-231-11896-5|location=New York|url-access=registration}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Gaetano Perusini]]
* [[German inventors and discoverers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Alois Alzheimer}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090301211434/http://www.alzheimers-research.org.uk/news/article.php?type=News&archive=1&id=71 Alzheimer's: 100 years on]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120118065913/http://www.ibro.info/Pub/Pub_Main_Display.asp?LC_Docs_ID=3445 Alois Alzheimer's Biography, International Brain Research Organization]
* [http://www.yorku.ca/ahp/?p=30 Bibliography of secondary sources] on Alois Alzheimer and Alzheimer's disease, selected from peer-reviewed journals
* Graeber Manuel B. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081219054825/http://www.ibro.info/media/pdf/si-his-pdf-pdf9.pdf "Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915)"], [[International Brain Research Organization]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alzheimer, Alois}}
[[Category:1864 births]]
[[Category:1915 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Marktbreit]]
[[Category:Physicians from the Kingdom of Bavaria]]
[[Category:German neuroscientists]]
[[Category:German Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Alzheimer's disease]]
[[Category:German psychiatrists]]
[[Category:Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Breslau]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:University of Tübingen alumni]]
[[Category:University of Würzburg alumni]]
[[Category:Neuropathologists]]