Julius Wagner-Jauregg

Austrian physician and Nobel laureate

Julius Wagner-Jauregg (7 March 1857 – 27 September 1940) was an Austrian physician and psychiatrist, renowned for his pioneering work in the treatment of mental illness using fever therapy. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1927 for his discovery of the therapeutic value of inducing malaria to treat general paresis of the insane, a neuropsychiatric disorder caused by late-stage syphilis.

Early Life and Education

Julius Wagner-Jauregg was born in Wels, Upper Austria, in 1857. He pursued his medical studies at the University of Vienna, where he was influenced by the work of Theodor Meynert, a prominent figure in the field of neuropsychiatry. Wagner-Jauregg graduated with a medical degree in 1880.

Career

After completing his studies, Wagner-Jauregg worked at the Vienna General Hospital and later became a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Vienna. His early research focused on the effects of thyroid gland extracts on patients with cretinism and myxedema.

Fever Therapy

Wagner-Jauregg's most significant contribution to medicine was the development of fever therapy. He hypothesized that inducing fever could have therapeutic effects on certain mental illnesses. In 1917, he introduced malariotherapy, a method of treating general paresis by infecting patients with malaria. The resulting fever was found to alleviate the symptoms of the disease. This groundbreaking work earned him the Nobel Prize in 1927.

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Julius Wagner-Jauregg

Later Life and Legacy

Wagner-Jauregg continued his research and teaching until his retirement in 1928. He remained a controversial figure due to his support of eugenics, a movement that advocated for the improvement of the human race through selective breeding. Despite this, his contributions to psychiatry and medicine are widely recognized.

Wagner-Jauregg passed away in 1940 in Vienna. His work laid the foundation for modern biological psychiatry and the development of psychopharmacology.

Related Pages

• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• General paresis of the insane
• Malariotherapy
• Eugenics