Alois Alzheimer

Aloysius Alzheimer
Dr. Aloysius Alzheimer
Born	(1864-06-14)14 June 1864 Marktbreit, Bavaria
Died	19 December 1915(1915-12-19) (aged 51) Breslau, Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland)
Cause of death	Heart failure
Education	University of Tübingen University of Würzburg University of Berlin
Known for	First published case of "presenile dementia" (Alzheimer's disease)
Medical career
Profession	Psychiatrist, Physician
Institutions	Institute for the Insane and Epileptic ("Irrenschloss"), Frankfurt am Main
Specialism	Neuropathology
Signature

Dr. Aloysius "Alois" Alzheimer (German: [ˈaːloˌis ˈalts.haɪmɐ]; 14 June 1864 – 19 December 1915) was a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist and a colleague of Emil Kraepelin. Alzheimer is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin would later identify as Alzheimer's disease.

Aloysius Alzheimer was born in Marktbreit, Bavaria on 14 June 1864. His father served in the office of notary public in the family's hometown. The Alzheimers moved when Alois was still young in order to give their children an opportunity to attend the Royal Humanistic Gymnasium. Later, Alois would study medicine in Aschaffenburg, Tübingen, Berlin, and Würzburg Universities. His college years were fairly typical; in his final year of school Alois was on the fencing team and a member of a fraternity, and even received a fine for disturbing the peace while out with his team. In April 1884, he married Cecille Simonette Nathalie Geisenheimer, with whom he had three children. Cecille died in 1901. In 1887, Alois Alzheimer graduated from Würzburg with a degree in medicine.

The following year, he spent five months assisting mentally ill women before he took an office in the city mental asylum in Frankfurt am Main, the Städtische Anstalt für Irre und Epileptische (Asylum for Lunatics and Epileptics). , 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. 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.