Robert Kienböck (11 January 1871 – 8 September 1953) was an Austrian

radiologist Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...

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 1895 he earned his medical doctorate at 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 ...

, and spent the next year abroad (

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

). He returned to Vienna as an assistant to

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), a

laryngologist The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal inlet is about ...

, and began working in the new science of

radiology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiat ...

. Several years later, he became head of the radiological department at

Vienna General Hospital The Vienna General Hospital (german: Allgemeines Krankenhaus der Stadt Wien), usually abbreviated to AKH, is the general hospital of the city of Vienna, Austria. It is also the city's university hospital, and the site of the Medical Univer ...

. In 1926 he became an associate professor of radiology. In June 1923, along with

Guido Holzknecht Guido Holzknecht (3 December 1872 – 30 October 1931) was an Austrian radiologist who was a native of Vienna. He studied in Strasbourg, Königsberg, and Vienna, and became the director of the X-ray laboratory at Vienna General Hospital in ...

(1872-1931), he was co-founder of the ''Wiener Gesellschaft für Röntgenkunde'' (Vienna Radiology Society). He was elected president of the ''Österreichische Gesellschaft für Röntgenkunde'' (Austrian Radiology Society) in 1934 and honorary president of that body after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. With Holzknecht, he published the two-part ''Röntgenologie. Eine Revision ihrer technischen Einrichtungen und praktische Methoden'' (

Roentgenology Radiology ( ) is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose diseases and guide their treatment, within the bodies of humans and other animals. It began with radiography (which is why its name has a root referring to radiatio ...

. A review of its technical facilities and practical methods). Kienböck was a pioneer in the use of

x-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

technology for medical diagnosis and therapy. He specialized in research of

skeletal A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

diseases and its treatment through radiology. In 1910 he described a disorder which consisted of breakdown of the

lunate bone The lunate bone (semilunar bone) is a carpal bone in the human hand. It is distinguished by its deep concavity and crescentic outline. It is situated in the center of the proximal row carpal bones, which lie between the ulna and radius and the han ...

in the wrist. He called the disorder "lunatomalacia", which is now known as

Kienböck's disease Kienböck's disease is a disorder of the wrist. It is named for Dr. Robert Kienböck, a radiologist in Vienna, Austria who described osteomalacia of the lunate in 1910. It is breakdown of the lunate bone, a carpal bone in the wrist that articulat ...

. Kienböck published his findings in a treatise titled ''Über traumatische Malazie des Mondbeins und ihre Folgezustände'' (Traumatic malacia of the lunate and its consequences).Kienböck's disease
@

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References

* Wagner, Jared P. and Kevin C. Chung. "A Historical Report on Robert Kienböck (1871-1953) and Kienböck's Disease." ''Journal of Hand Surgery'' 30A, no. 6 (November 2005): 1117–1121.
''Robert Kienböck''
@

Austrian radiologists 1871 births 1953 deaths Physicians from Vienna Physicians from Austria-Hungary Radiologists {{austria-med-bio-stub