Friedrich von Recklinghausen

RECKLINGHAUSEN, Friedrich (Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen, 1833–1910), the most prominent pathologist of his time. He graduated from the medical faculty of the University of Berlin in 1855. Until 1864, he worked as an assistant at the Berlin Pathological Institute under the direction of Virchow.

In 1865, he was appointed professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Königsberg.

In 1872, he was elected professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Strasbourg, where he remained a professor until his retirement.

In Strasbourg, a new pathological institute was built under his direction. Among his scientific works, the most famous are his studies on multiple neurofibromatosis (1882) and fibrous osteitis (1891); both of these diseases are still referred to as "Recklinghausen's disease."

In his time, Recklinghausen's works on lymphatic vessels and retrograde embolism, a series of his studies on the origin of pus corpuscles and pyemia, as well as his work on adenomyomas of the uterus and fallopian tubes, were of great importance. Just before his death, Recklinghausen published a two-volume study on rickets and osteomalacia with an atlas (Jena, 1910), which is still considered a classic. Many outstanding pathologists emerged from Recklinghausen's school (Aschoff, F. D. von Recklinghausen, Schmidt, Lyubimov, and others). From 1883 to 1885, Recklinghausen served as rector of the University of Strasbourg.

Recklinghausen's disease—see Neurofibromatosis, Osteitis fibrosa.