Nathan Weiss
Nathan Weiss (1851 – 1883) was a Czech born, Austrian trained physician and neurologist.
Undertook systematic research of the spinal marrow, medulla oblongata and basal ganglia. In 1881 Weiss demonstrated causal association between tetany and removal of goitre.
Biography
- Born 8 May 1851 in Gross-Meseritsch (Velké Meziříčí, Czech Republic)
- 1874 – Doctorate in medicine, Vienna
- 1879 – Habilitated for internal medicine, Wiener Allgemeines Krankenhaus
- 1883 – Head of the outpatient clinic for nervous diseases at Vienna General Hospital
- Died 13 September 1883. Committed suicide on return from his honeymoon
Medical Eponyms
- Weiss sign (Chvostek sign)
Key Medical Attributions
1881 – Weiss published a thorough clinical and neurophysiological study on tetany in which he presented three of Billroth’s patients who suffered from postoperative attacks of tetany. In one case the attack proved fatal. Weiss believed that there was a causal link between the occurrence of tetany and surgery, departing from the traditional view that tetany and cachexia strumipriva were simply successive stages of a single disorder caused by strumectomy.
Eugéne Gley (1857–1930) conducted animal studies to unravel the causes of these two complications and was the first investigator to draw attention to Sandström’s parathyroid glands.
Major Publications
- Weiss N. Über Tetanie. Sammlung Klinischer Vorträge 189. Innere Medizin 1881;63:1675–1704 [In: Sammlung Klinischer Vorträge in Verbindung mit deutschen Klinikern. Innere Medizin. No.62-92.]
- Weiss N. Centralblatt für die gesammte Therapie. 1883;1:9.
References
- Vermeulen AHM. The birth of endocrine pathology. Virchows Arch. 2010 Sep; 457(3): 283–290. [PMC2933809]
Physician in training. German translator and lover of medical history.