Ernst Niedermeyer

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Ernst Friedrich Leopold Niedermeyer (born January 19, 1920 in Schönberg , Silesia; † April 5, 2012 in Towson , Maryland) was a German-American neurologist and psychiatrist , clinical neurophysiologist and epileptologist .

Life

Born in Silesia, Niedermeyer moved to Vienna with his parents as a schoolboy . After his father was imprisoned there for several months as an opponent of the National Socialists in 1938 after the annexation of Austria to Germany, he had to break off a course of studies he had begun at the University of Vienna, also because his grandfather was Jewish. He was drafted into the German army and suffered a. a. several wounds during operations on the Eastern Front. In 1944 he was captured on the Western Front in France and used as a companion and medical provider for wounded US soldiers during their transport to the USA. He was taken prisoner in the USA, after the end of the war he returned to Austria and completed his medical studies in Vienna and Innsbruck in 1947.

He then worked as a visiting doctor and from 1948 as an assistant doctor at the Innsbruck Psychiatric Clinic (professor: Hubert Urban ). In 1954 he completed his specialist training in neurology and psychiatry in Innsbruck, which was interrupted by a research stay at the Salpêtrière in Paris and Lyon in 1950/51 .

From 1952 onwards, Niedermeyer worked intensively on the electroencephalogram (EEG) after the University of Innsbruck received an EEG device as part of the Marshall Plan and the doctor in charge had retired. In 1955 he completed his habilitation and from 1958 to 1960 was acting head of the neurological-psychiatric department of the Innsbruck State Hospital .

After he was appointed associate professor in 1960, Niedermeyer moved to the USA in the same year, initially to the University Psychiatric Clinic (EEG and neurophysiology sector) in Iowa City , Iowa. In 1964 he became an associate professor, in 1965 he moved to the Hospital of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , Maryland, as head of the EEG department and associate professor of neurology, and from 1973 also for neurosurgery as part of the epilepsy surgery program led by neurosurgeons Arthur Earl Walker and later with Sumio Uematsu (1934–1994). From 1976, Niedermeyer was head of the adult seizure clinic and from 1987 full professor for neurology and neurosurgery. From 1990 he was Professor Emeritus, in 1997 he retired.

plant

Niedermeyer was one of the world's best-known EEG experts, which is also based on his textbook on electroencephalography, which was first published in 1982, was reprinted several times and continued under his name after his death (see under Books). He was the co-author of numerous articles in specialist journals and book chapters. In 1969 he first used the term Lennox-Gastaut syndrome in a publication (previously proposed by Margaret Agnes Lennox-Buchthal at a symposium in Marseille in 1966 ) and in 1981 he first described subacute encephalopathy with epileptic seizures in alcoholism (SESA).

Books

  • E. Niedermeyer (Ed.): Epilepsy. Recent Views on Theory, Diagnosis and Therapy of Epilepsy. (= Modern Problems of Pharmacopsychiatry. Vol 4). S. Karger, Basel 1970.
  • E. Niedermeyer: Generalized Epilepsies. A Clinical-Electroencephalographic Study. CC Thomas, Springfield, Illinois 1972.
  • E. Niedermeyer: Compendium of the Epilepsies. CC Thomas, Springfield, Illinois 1974.
  • E. Niedermeyer, F. Lopes da Silva (Eds.): Electroencephalography. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Baltimore / Munich 1982. (last edition as co-editor: E. Niedermeyer, F. Lopes da Silva (eds.): Electroencephalography. 5th edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia / Baltimore / New York et al. 2004) ( Current edition: DL Schomer, FH Lopes da Silva (Ed.): Niedermeyer's Electroencephalography. Basic Principles, Clinical Applications, and Related Fields. 7th edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2018)
  • E. Niedermeyer: Epilepsy Guide. Diagnosis and Treatment of Epileptic Seizure Disorders. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Baltimore / Munich 1983.
  • R. Degen , E. Niedermeyer (Ed.): Epilepsy, Sleep and Sleep Deprivation. Elsevier, Amsterdam / New York / Oxford 1984.
  • E. Niedermeyer, R. Degen (Eds.): The Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome. Proceedings of a Symposium Held in Bad Kreuznach, Federal Republic of Germany, September 17-19, 1987. (= Neurology and Neurobiology. Vol 45). AR Liss, New York 1988.
  • E. Niedermeyer: The Epilepsies. Diagnosis and Management. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Baltimore / Munich 1990.

Awards

Since 2007 the Austrian section of the ILAE (since 2011: Austrian Society for Epileptology ; ÖGfE) has awarded a prize named after him every two years.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ G. Krämer : Prof. Dr. Ernst Niedermeyer (1920–2012). In: Z Epileptol. 25, 2012, pp. 139-140.
  2. ^ RP Lesser: Ernst Niedermeyer, 1920–2012 (obituary). In: Clin Neurophysiol. 123, 2012, pp. 1262-1263. (on-line)
  3. ↑ http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/obituaries/bs-md-ob-ernst-niedermeyer-20120411-story.html
  4. ^ E. Niedermeyer: The Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. A severe type of childhood epilepsy. In: Dtsch Z Nervenheilk. 195, 1969, pp. 263-282.
  5. ^ E. Niedermeyer, G. Freund, A. Krumholz: Subacute encephalopathy with seizures in alcoholics; a clinical-electroencephalographic study. In: Clin Electroencephalogr. 12, 1981, pp. 113-129.
personal data
SURNAME Niedermeyer, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Niedermeyer, Ernst Friedrich Leopold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American neurologist, psychiatrist, clinical neurophysiologist and epileptologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Schönberg , Silesia
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 2012
Place of death Towson , Maryland