Paul Julius Möbius

Paul Julius Möbius (January 24, 1853 – January 8, 1907) was a German neurologist born in Leipzig.

Prior to entering the medical field in 1873, he studied philosophy and theology at the Universities of Leipzig, Jena and Marburg. After earning his medical doctorate in 1876, he enlisted in the army, attaining the rank of Oberstabsarzt (senior staff surgeon). After leaving the army, he returned to Leipzig, where he opened a private practice and worked as an assistant to neurologist Adolph Strümpell (1853-1925) at the university policlinic. In 1883 he obtained his habilitation for neurology.

He was a prolific writer and is well known for publications in the fields of neurophysiology and endocrinology. Among his writings in psychiatry were psychopathological studies of Goethe, Rousseau, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. He was also an editor of Schmidt's Jahrbücher der in- und ausländischen gesammten Medizin.

Möbius made pioneer contributions towards the understanding of how some mental illnesses occur. He is credited for providing a distinction between exogenous and endogenous nerve disorders, and introduced ideas on the etiology of hysteria.

His name is associated with Möbius syndrome, a disease he identified as "nuclear atrophy". This is a rare type of associated with paralysis of the cranial nerves VI and VII. This results in the patient having a masklike facial expression along with many other abnormalities such as drooling, crossed eyes, speech difficulties and problems swallowing. Other eponyms associated with Möbius are:

...
Wikipedia