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

neurologist Neurology (from , "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 nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

who was a native of

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1836 he obtained his medical doctorate from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, 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, spinal cord and retina. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity o ...

, 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 pot ...

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, medial corticospinal tract, direct pyramidal tract, or anterior cerebrospinal fasciculus) is a small bundle of Descending neuron, 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 subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

Johann Nepomuk Czermak Johann Nepomuk Czermak (17 June 1828 – 16 September 1873) was an Austrian-German physiologist. Biography Czermak was born on 17 June 1828 in Prague. He studied in Prague, Vienna, Wrocław, Breslau and Würzburg. At Breslau he was greatly influe ...

(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 (1832-1899), Leopold von Schrötter (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 neuron, motor, Sensory neuron, sensory, and Autonomic nervous system, autonomic signals between the spinal cord and the body. In the human body there are 31 pairs of spinal nerves, one on each s ...

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

References

translated biography @

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) 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 Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

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