Editing Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt

{{short description|German neurologist and neuropathologist}}
{{Infobox medical person
| name = Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt
| image = Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt (ca. 1920).jpg
| caption = Creutzfeldt c. 1920
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1885|6|2}}
| birth_place = [[Harburg (quarter)|Harburg an der Elbe]], [[Hamburg]], [[German Empire]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1964|12|30|1885|6|2}}
| death_place = [[Munich]], [[West Germany]]
| other_names =
| specialism = Neurology, Neuropathology
| education = [[University of Jena]], [[University of Rostock]]
| work_institutions = Neurological Institute in Frank am Main
| profession = Medical Doctor
| known_for = {{bulleted|Research on brain diseases, the namesake with [[Alfons Maria Jakob]] of [[Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease]]}}
| title =
| spouse =
| children =
| parents =
| relatives =
| signature =
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}}

'''Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt''' (June 2, 1885 – December 30, 1964) was a German [[neurologist]] and [[neuropathologist]].<ref name="kondziella" /> Although he is typically credited as the physician to first describe the [[Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease]], this has been disputed.<ref name="kondziella" /><ref name="katscher" /><ref name="pearce" /> He was born in [[Harburg (quarter)|Harburg an der Elbe]] and died in [[Munich]].

==Biography==
Creutzfeldt was born into a medical family, on June 2, 1885, at [[Harburg (quarter)|Harburg an der Elbe]], Germany, which was incorporated into [[Hamburg]] in 1937.{{cn|date=September 2024}} In 1903, at the age of 18, he was drafted into the [[German army]] and spent his service stationed in [[Kiel]].

Afterwards, he attended the School of Medicine of the [[University of Jena]] and the [[University of Rostock]],<ref name="rostock" /> receiving his doctorate at the latter in 1909. Part of his practical training was undertaken at ''St. Georg'' – Hospital in Hamburg. After qualification he sought adventure as a [[Naval surgeon|ship's surgeon]], voyaging the [[Pacific Ocean]], taking the opportunity to study local crafts, linguistics, and tropical plants.

After returning to [[Germany]] in 1912, Creutzfeldt worked at the Neurological Institute in [[Frankfurt am Main]], at the psychiatric-neurological clinics in [[Wrocław|Breslau]], [[Kiel]] and [[Berlin]], and at the ''[[Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Psychiatrie]]'' in [[Munich]]. 

During the [[First World War]], Creutzfeldt was deployed as a reserve medical officer and survived the sinking of the auxiliary cruiser [[SMS Greif]], on which he was embarked. After being captured on February 29, 1916, he was repatriated as a doctor in May of that year and served in the [[Imperial German Navy]] until the end of the war in 1918.

Creutzfeldt was [[habilitation|habilitated]] at Kiel in 1920, and in 1925 became ''Extraordinarius'' of [[psychiatry]] and [[neurology]]. In 1938 he was appointed professor and director of the university psychiatric and neurological division in Kiel. He helped to recognize a neurodegenerative disease, with [[Alfons Maria Jakob]], [[Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease]] in which the [[brain tissue]] develops holes and takes on a sponge-like texture. It is now known it is due to a type of infectious [[protein]] called a [[prion]]. Prions are misfolded proteins which replicate by converting their properly folded counterparts.

In [[Nazi Germany]], Creutzfeldt became a [[Förderndes Mitglied der SS|Patron Member]] of [[Heinrich Himmler]]'s [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] from 1932 to 1933.<ref name="kondziella" />

==Later life==
Creutzfeldt was 54 years old when the [[Second World War]] broke out. He was unmoved by the [[Nazi regime]] and was able to save some people from death in [[Extermination camp|concentration camp]]s and also managed to save almost all of his patients from being murdered under the Nazi ''[[Aktion T4]]'' [[involuntary euthanasia]] program, while most mental patients identified by T4 personnel were gassed or poisoned at separate [[euthanasia]] clinics such as [[Hadamar Euthanasia Centre]]. During the war, bombing raids destroyed his home and clinic.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt |url=http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/91.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=www.whonamedit.com}}</ref>

After the war he was director of the [[University of Kiel]] for six months, before being dismissed by the British occupation forces. His efforts to rebuild the university caused a series of conflicts with the British because he wanted to allow more former army officers to study there. Creutzfeldt resigned from his work at Kiel in 1953 in order to pursue life as professor emeritus in [[Munich]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wolf|first1=J. H.|last2=Foley|first2=P.|date=2005|title=Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt (1885-1964): A Life in Neuropathology|journal=Journal of Neural Transmission|location=Austria|publisher=Springer-Verlag|volume=112|issue=8|pages=I-XCVII|doi=10.1007/s00702-005-0288-2|pmid=15834786|s2cid=25705032|issn=0300-9564|eissn=1435-1463|via=Academic Search Complete}}</ref>

==Personal life==
He was married to Clara Sombart, a daughter of economist [[Werner Sombart]]. They had five children, among them neurologist [[Otto Detlev Creutzfeldt]] and [[Werner Creutzfeldt]] (1924–2006), a German [[internist]]. He died in December 1964 in Munich. 

==See also==
* [[Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease]], a fatal degenerative brain disorder caused by [[prions]] involving the [[cerebral cortex]], the [[basal ganglia]] and the [[spinal cord]].
* [[Adrenoleukodystrophy]], a rare demyelination disorder also known as [[Ernst Siemerling|Siemerling]]-Creutzfeldt disease that causes damage to the myelin sheaths of neurons in the brain, resulting in seizures and hyperactivity.

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="katscher">{{cite journal |last1=Katscher |first1=F |title=It's Jakob's disease, not Creutzfeldt's |journal=Nature |date=May 1998 |volume=393 |issue=6860 |page=11 |pmid=9590681 |doi=10.1038/29862|bibcode=1998Natur.393Q..11K |s2cid=205000018 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="kondziella">{{cite journal |last1=Kondziella |first1=D |last2=Zeidman |first2=LA |title=What's in a Name? Neurological Eponyms of the Nazi Era |journal=Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience |date=2016 |volume=38 |pages=184–200 |doi=10.1159/000442683 |pmid=27035717|type=Review|isbn=978-3-318-05605-1 }}</ref>
<ref name="pearce">{{cite journal |last1=Pearce |first1=JM |title=Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease |journal=European Neurology |date=2004 |volume=52 |issue=3 |pages=129–131 |doi=10.1159/000081462 |pmid=15479979|type=Review|doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name="rostock">See [http://purl.uni-rostock.de/matrikel/200004494 entry of Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt] in the [[Rostock Matrikelportal]]</ref>
}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Creutzfeldt, Hans Gerhard}}
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:German neuroscientists]]
[[Category:German pathologists]]
[[Category:Förderndes Mitglied der SS]]
[[Category:German neurologists]]
[[Category:History of psychiatry]]
[[Category:Physicians of the Charité]]
[[Category:Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:University of Jena alumni]]
[[Category:University of Rostock alumni]]
[[Category:Neuropathologists]]