Joseph Babinski: A Biography

✍ Scribed by Jacques Philippon, Jacques Poirier

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 470
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Joseph Babinski's contributions to French medicine have been well-documented, but there has yet to be a significant and an authoritative biography of him--until now. Two French physicians, Jaques Philippon and Jacques Poirier, analyze Babinski's great scientific achievements, explore his unique family history, and publish, for the first time, a complete bibliography of his publications. The ''Babinski sign,'' considered as his greatest diagnostic achievement, is typically one of the first neurological tests performed by a specialist or primary care physician to determine the existence of an injury to the pyramidal tract. Joseph Babinski, however, is more than just the ''Babinski sign'' that has made him famous and revered. As the authors explain, he was an early contributor to the fields of cutaneous and tendinous reflexes, cerebellar and vestibular semiology, hysteria and pithitiasm, localization of spinal cord compressions, and the birth of French neurosurgery. This book chronicles his family's emigration from Poland to France, his tutelage and early career under great teachers such as Alfred Vulpian, Victor Cornil, and Jean-Martin Charcot at the Hopital de la Salpetriere in Paris, his methods and observations during 27 years as department head at La Pitie, as well as the close and unique relationship with his brother, Henri, the well-known Ali-Bab. Finally, Babinski's life and times can be accessed in one fresh and intriguing book!

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 16
1 Babinski’s Life and Times......Page 20
2 A Complex and Captivating Personality......Page 40
3 The Babinskis and Their Polish Roots......Page 70
4 The Babinski Circle......Page 102
5 The Competitive Examinations......Page 114
6 His Revered Teachers......Page 132
7 Babinski and the Anatomical Society......Page 150
8 Babinski, Head of a Department at La Pitié......Page 168
9 The Affectionate Admiration of His Students......Page 184
10 The Babinski Papers......Page 204
11 The Reflexes and the Sign......Page 234
12 Cerebellar and Vestibular Symptomatology......Page 266
13 Babinski and the Birth of French Neurosurgery......Page 282
14 Babinski as Therapist......Page 300
15 Pithiatism Versus Hysteria......Page 314
16 Neurology in the Time of Babinski......Page 338
17 Babinski’s Public Image......Page 362
Bibliography......Page 382
A......Page 446
B......Page 447
C......Page 450
D......Page 453
E......Page 454
F......Page 455
G......Page 456
H......Page 457
J......Page 458
L......Page 459
M......Page 461
N......Page 462
P......Page 463
R......Page 465
S......Page 466
T......Page 468
W......Page 469
Z......Page 470