Constantin von Economo (August 21, 1876[1][2][3] - October 21, 1931), one of the foremost brain scientists of the twentieth century,[4] was born in Brăila, Romania, to Greek parents. He grew up in Trieste, where he received his primary and secondary education, and then moved to Vienna. He studied engineering and medicine, becoming assistant of neurology and psychiatry (1906), lecturer (1913) and professor (1921) at the University of Vienna. On April 17, 1917 he made the seminal description of epidemic encephalitis lethargica (since known as 'von Economo disease') at the Viennese Society for Psychiatry and Neurology.[5][6]

He is credited for discovering the first spindle neurons, which are are also known as von Economo neurons (VENs). This class of neurons refracts waves of neural signals as they are transmitted from one region of the brain to another, and have only been reported in humans, Great Apes, and whales.

In 1918 he postulated the existence of an active sleep-regulating center in the brain and subsequently localized it with precision, based on clinical and pathoanatomical observations.[7] In 1925 he published, with neurologist Georg N. Koskinas (1885-1975), the monumental Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen[8] (Cytoarchitectonics of the Adult Human Cerebral Cortex[9]), based on work of "superb technical skill and enormous patience".[10]

Von Economo died in 1931 in Vienna at the age of 55.

References

^ Kuhlenbeck, H. (1953) Constantin von Economo (1876-1931). In: Haymaker, W., Baer, K.A. (eds.) The Founders of Neurology: One Hundred and Thirty-Three Biographical Sketches. Charles C Thomas Publisher, Springfield, IL, pp. 177–179.

^ Bogaert, L. van, Théodoridès, J. (1979). Constantin von Economo: The Man and the Scientist. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 

^ Triarhou, L.C. (2007). "Pioneers in Neurology: Constantin von Economo (1876-1931)". Journal of Neurology 254: 550–551. 

^ Triarhou, L.C. (2006). "The signalling contributions of Constantin von Economo to basic, clinical and evolutionary neuroscience". Brain Research Bulletin 69: 223–243. doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.02.001. 

^ Economo, C. von (1917). "Encephalitis lethargica". Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift 30: 581–585. 

^ Ransmayr, G. (2007). "Constantin von Economo's contribution to the understanding of movement disorders". Movement Disorders 22: 469–475. doi:10.1002/mds.21352. 

^ Triarhou, L.C. (2006). "The percipient observations of Constantin von Economo on encephalitis lethargica and sleep disruption and their lasting impact on contemporary sleep research". Brain Research Bulletin 69: 244–258. doi:10.1016/j.brainresbull.2006.02.002. 

^ Economo, C. von, Koskinas, G.N. (1925). Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen. Wien: Springer.  Textband und Atlas

^ Economo, C. von, Koskinas, G.N. (2008). Atlas of Cytoarchitectonics of the Adult Human Cerebral Cortex. Basel: Karger. 

^ G. Elliot Smith (January 1927). "Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen". Journal of Anatomy 61 (part 2): 264–266.