Alfred Goldscheider
Encyclopedia
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
who was born in Sommerfeld
Lubsko
Lubsko is a town in Żary County in the Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland. It is the administrative seat of the Gmina Lubsko and has a population of 15,370 as of February 1, 2005.- History :...
(today Lubsko, Poland).
He studied medicine at Friedrich-Wilhelm Medical-Surgical Institute in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, and subsequently spent the next seven years as a military physician. During this time he was also an assistant to physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond
Emil du Bois-Reymond
Emil du Bois-Reymond was a German physician and physiologist, the discoverer of nerve action potential, and the father of experimental electrophysiology.-Life:...
. Later he became a professor at the University of Berlin.
Goldscheider is best-known for his work with the somatosensory system
Somatosensory system
The somatosensory system is a diverse sensory system composed of the receptors and processing centres to produce the sensory modalities such as touch, temperature, proprioception , and nociception . The sensory receptors cover the skin and epithelia, skeletal muscles, bones and joints, internal...
, particularly research of the body's thermoreceptor
Thermoreceptor
A thermoreceptor is a sensory receptor, or more accurately the receptive portion of a sensory neuron, that codes absolute and relative changes in temperature, primarily within the innocuous range...
s concerning its localized "coolness" and "warmness" spots. He also performed research of localized tactile skin sensitivity, including tests involving "pain" and "tickle" sensations. The eponymous terms Goldscheider's test and Goldscheider's percussion are derived from his research. During this time period in the early 1880s, Swedish physician Magnus Blix
Magnus Blix
Magnus Gustaf Blix was a Swedish physiologist who was a professor at the universities of Uppsala and Lund....
(1849-1904) of the University of Uppsala was performing similar tests, independent of Goldscheider.
In the late 1890s with neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
Edward Flatau
Edward Flatau
Edward Flatau was a Polish neurologist. His work greatly influenced the developing field of neurology. He established neurobiologic and neuropathological sciences in Poland...
, Goldscheider performed studies on the structure of nerve cells and their changes under different stimuli. He is also credited with describing the skin disorder, epidermolysis bullosa
Epidermolysis bullosa
Epidermolysis bullosa is an inherited connective tissue disease causing blisters in the skin and mucosal membranes, with an incidence of 1/50,000. Its severity ranges from mild to lethal. It is caused by a mutation in the keratin or collagen gene....
, which is sometimes referred to as Goldscheider's disease.