Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology.^[1] He is known as "the founder of modern neurology",^[2] and his name has been associated with at least 15 medical eponyms, including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and Charcot disease (better known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, motor neurone disease, or Lou Gehrig disease).^[1] Charcot has been referred to as "the father of French neurology and one of the world's pioneers of neurology".^[3] His work greatly influenced the developing fields of neurology and psychology; modern psychiatry owes much to the work of Charcot and his direct followers.^[4] He was the "foremost neurologist of late nineteenth-century France"^[5] and has been called "the Napoleon of the neuroses".^[6]
Charcot's primary focus was neurology. He named and was the first to describe multiple sclerosis.^[2][11] Summarizing previous reports and adding his own clinical and pathological observations, Charcot called the disease sclerose en plaques. The three signs of Multiple sclerosis now known as Charcot's triad 1 are nystagmus, intention tremor, and telegraphic speech, though these are not unique to MS. Charcot also observed cognition changes, describing his patients as having a "marked enfeeblement of the memory" and "conceptions that formed slowly". He was also the first to describe a disorder known as Charcot joint or Charcot arthropathy, a degeneration of joint surfaces resulting from loss of proprioception. He researched the functions of different parts of the brain and the role of arteries in cerebral hemorrhage.^[2]

Charcot was among the first to describe Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). The announcement was made simultaneously with Pierre Marie of France (his resident) and Howard Henry Tooth of England. The disease is also sometimes called peroneal muscular atrophy.^[12]

Charcot's studies between 1868 and 1881 were a landmark in the understanding of Parkinson's disease.^[13] Among other advances he made the distinction between rigidity, weakness and bradykinesia.^[13] He also led the disease formerly named paralysis agitans (shaking palsy) to be renamed after James Parkinson.^[13] Charcot received the first European professional chair of clinical diseases for the nervous system in 1882.^{[14]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Martin_Charcot