Grigory Ivanovich Rossolimo ( - September 1928) was a Russian 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...

 who was a native of Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

. (He was of Greek origin; his grandfather had gone sailing from Cefalonia as a young man, been shipwrecked, and washed up near Odessa, where he remained.) He specialized in the field of child neuropsychology

Neuropsychology

Neuropsychology studies the structure and function of the brain related to specific psychological processes and behaviors. The term neuropsychology has been applied to lesion studies in humans and animals. It has also been applied to efforts to record electrical activity from individual cells in...

.

In 1884 he graduated from the University of Moscow, and subsequently worked under Aleksei Kozhevnikov

Aleksei Kozhevnikov

Aleksei Yakovlevich Kozhevnikov was a Russian neurologist and psychiatrist who was a native of Ryazan.From 1853 until 1858 he studied medicine at the University of Moscow, and furthered his education in Germany, Switzerland, England and France...

 (1836-1902) at the clinic of neurological diseases. He earned his medical doctorate in 1887, and in 1890 became head of the department of neurology at the clinic of Aleksei Alekseevich Ostroumov (1844-1908).

In 1911, along with other academic personnel at the University of Moscow, he resigned in protest against reactionary reforms installed by the minister of education. Afterwards, he opened his own institute of neurology and child psychology. In 1917 he returned to the university, and attained the chair of neuropathology

Neuropathology

Neuropathology is the study of disease of nervous system tissue, usually in the form of either small surgical biopsies or whole autopsy brains. Neuropathology is a subspecialty of anatomic pathology, neurology, and neurosurgery...

. In this position he established a department for child psycho-neurology

Neuropsychology

Neuropsychology studies the structure and function of the brain related to specific psychological processes and behaviors. The term neuropsychology has been applied to lesion studies in humans and animals. It has also been applied to efforts to record electrical activity from individual cells in...

 and "defectology".

Rossolimo is remembered for his work in experimental psychology

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

, which included the development of psychological profiles. A particular study of his involved grouping children according to psycho-physiological

Psychophysiology

Psychophysiology is the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. While psychophysiology was a general broad field of research in the 1960s and 1970s, it has now become quite specialized, and has branched into subspecializations...

 characteristics and anomalies. He was also co-founder of the "Korsakov Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry", which was named in honor of Sergei Sergeievich Korsakoff (1853-1900).

• Associated eponym:

Rossolimo's reflex: Exaggerated flexion of the toes in response to percussion of the plantar surface of the second to fifth toes, and is indicative of lesions of the pyramidal tract.

Cultural Mention

Rossolimo is mentioned in Mikhail Bulgakov's

Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...

story, "The Fateful Eggs."