Kurt Mendel was a German 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 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...

. In 1897 he received his doctorate from Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

, and in 1899 went to work at the policlinic of Emanuel Mendel

Emanuel Mendel

Emanuel Mendel was a German neurologist and psychiatrist who was a university professor and director of a polyclinic in Berlin. He was born in Bunzlau, Lower Silesia; ....

 (1839-1907) in Berlin. Kurt Mendel was an editor of Neurologisches Zentralblatt.

With Russian neurophysiologist Vladimir Bekhterev

Vladimir Bekhterev

Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev was a Russian Neurologist and the Father of Objective Psychology. He is best known for noting the role of the hippocampus in memory, his study of reflexes, and Bekhterev’s Disease...

 (1857-1927), the eponymous Mendel-Bekhterev reflex

Bekhterev-Mendel reflex

The Bekhterev-Mendel reflex, also known as the Mendel reflex or Mendel-Bekhterev reflex, is a clinical sign found in patients with pyramidal tract lesions...

 is named, which is flexion of the toes caused by percussion

Percussion (medicine)

Percussion is a method of tapping on a surface to determine the underlying structure, and is used in clinical examinations to assess the condition of the thorax or abdomen. It is one of the four methods of clinical examination, together with inspection, palpation and auscultation...

 of the upper surface of the foot, a sign of lesion

Lesion

A lesion is any abnormality in the tissue of an organism , usually caused by disease or trauma. Lesion is derived from the Latin word laesio which means injury.- Types :...

s of the pyramidal tract.

Mendel was a critic of Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...

 (1856-1939). He mentioned that Freud's psychoanalytical teachings offered a valuable perspective, however he believed that they contained excessive exaggeration and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

. He was also repulsed by some aspects of Freud's views on sexuality. Mendel was an outspoken opponent of Hermann Oppenheim

Hermann Oppenheim

Hermann Oppenheim was one of the leading neurologists in Germany. He studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin, Göttingen and Bonn. He started his career at the Charité-Hospital in Berlin as an assistant of Karl Westphal...

 (1858-1919), regarding the latter's theory of psychic changes perpetrated by organic disturbances within the brain

Brain

The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...

 due to psychological trauma

Psychological trauma

Psychological trauma is a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a traumatic event...

.