Ludwig Türck (22 July 1810 – 25 February 1868) was an Austrian

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

who was a native of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1836 he obtained his medical doctorate from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

, where in 1864 he became a full professor. He is remembered for his pioneer investigations of the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...

, particularly his studies involving

nerve fiber An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action po ...

localization, direction and degeneration. His name is lent to the "bundle of Türck", which are uncrossed fibers forming a small bundle in the

pyramidal tract The pyramidal tracts include both the corticobulbar tract and the corticospinal tract. These are aggregations of efferent nerve fibers from the upper motor neurons that travel from the cerebral cortex and terminate either in the brainstem (''cort ...

. Today this bundle of fibers is usually called by its clinical name: the

anterior corticospinal tract The anterior corticospinal tract (also called the ventral corticospinal tract, "Bundle of Turck", medial corticospinal tract, direct pyramidal tract, or anterior cerebrospinal fasciculus) is a small bundle of descending fibers that connect the cer ...

. In medical literature, the terms "Türck's bundle", "Türck's column" and "Türck's tract" are also used for the anterior corticospinal tract.
Mondofacto Dictionary During the latter part of the 1850s, Türck, along with

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

Johann Nepomuk Czermak Johann Nepomuk Czermak (17 June 1828 – 16 September 1873) was an Austrian-German physiologist who was a native of Prague. He studied in Prague, Vienna, Breslau and Würzburg. At Breslau he was greatly influenced by the work of physiologist Jan ...

(1828-1873) were responsible for introducing the

laryngoscope Laryngoscopy () is endoscopy of the larynx, a part of the throat. It is a medical procedure that is used to obtain a view, for example, of the vocal folds and the glottis. Laryngoscopy may be performed to facilitate tracheal intubation during ge ...

into medicine. Among Türck's assistants and students in Vienna were laryngologists

Karl Stoerk Karl Stoerk (German: Störk, 17 September 1832 – 13 September 1899) was an Austrian laryngology, laryngologist who was a native of Ofen. He studied medicine at the Universities of Charles University in Prague, Prague and University of Vienn ...

(1832-1899),

Leopold von Schrötter Leopold Schrötter Ritter von Kristelli, (name often given as Leopold von Schrötter in medical literature) (February 5, 1837 – April 22, 1908) was an Austrian internist and laryngologist born in Graz. He was the son of chemist Anton Schröt ...

(1837-1908) and Johann Schnitzler (1835-1893).

Selected writings

* ''Praktische Anleitung zur Laryngoskopie'' (Practical guide to laryngoscopy); (1860) * ''Klinik der Krankheiten des Kehlkopfes und der Luftröhre, nebst einer Anleitung zum Gebrauche des Kehlkopfrachenspiegels und zur Lokalbehandlung der Kehlkopfkrankheiten'' (1866) * ''Über Hautsensibilitätsbezirke der einzelnen Rückenmarksnervenpaare'' (Investigations of the cutaneous distribution of the separate pairs of

spinal nerve A spinal nerve is a mixed nerve, which carries motor, sensory, and autonomic signals between the spinal cord and the body. In the human body there are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, one on each side of the vertebral column. These are grouped into th ...

s) (1869); with Carl Wedl (1815-1891).

References

translated biography @

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

NCBI
National Library of Medicine article about the bundle of Türck
Influence of Hungary and Central Europe upon the Development of Medicine

External links

* Neurologists Physicians from the Austrian Empire 1810 births 1868 deaths Physicians from Vienna Academic staff of the University of Vienna {{austria-med-bio-stub