Hans Helmut Kornhuber

Hans Helmut Kornhuber
Born (1928-02-24)February 24, 1928
Königsberg, Germany
Died October 30, 2009(2009-10-30)
Residence Germany
Citizenship German
Nationality German
Fields Neurology, Clinical neurology, Neurophysiology, Clinical neurophysiology, Neuroscience, Clinical neuroscience
Institutions University of Ulm
Known for Bereitschaftspotential
Influenced Free will research and discussion
Notable awards Hans-Berger-Award, Hallpike-Nylén-Award, Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Hans Helmut Kornhuber (24 February 1928 in Königsberg - 30 October 2009) was a German Neurologist and Neurophysiologist.

Biography

Hans Helmut Kornhuber was born as the second of three children of Dr. med. Gertrud and Dr. Arnold Kornhuber. He grew up at a small place Methgen near Königsberg. Eight years old he was admitted to the Friedrich Kollegium in Königsberg. Schooltime ended with preliminary maturity in summer 1944. He was interested in chemistry and got into contact with the chemical institute of the University of Königsberg. With the capitulation of Königsberg on April 9 Kornhuber became a soviet prisoner of war for four and a half years. In September 1949 he was discharged and joined his family in Schleswig-Holstein. In October 1949 he passed a second examination for maturity and started to Munich to study chemistry. In spring 1950 he changed from chemistry to medicine because the experience of captivity led him to think what's important in life.

From 1949 on Kornhuber studied medicine at the universities of Munich, Göttingen, Freiburg, Basle and Heidelberg. In 1955 he was promoted to doctor of medicine in Heidelberg.[1] In 1955 he married Ursula Heesch, they had five children. He absolved his clinical education at the Neurological University Hospital at the University of Freiburg, where he was habilitated in 1963.[2] He spent one and a half research years at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. In 1967 he was appointed the chair of Neurology at the newly founded University of Ulm and there built the Neurological Hospital of the University of Ulm (until 1984 situated in Dietenbronn). In 1996 Kornhuber has been professor emeritus. One of his sons is the Psychiatrist and Psychotherapeut Johannes Kornhuber. Kornhuber saw the achievement of a scientific break through in 1965 with the discovery of the Bereitschaftspotential (or readiness potential), together with his doctoral student Lüder Deecke.[3]

Scientific contribution

In 1965 Kornhuber (together with Lüder Deecke) discovered the Bereitschaftspotential, a brain potential in the EEG which precedes all our willed movements and actions.[4] The publication, even though originally in German, became a citation classic.[5] He spent early interest in epistemology and brain function. He worked on the sensory systems/perception, conducting many experiments at Baltimore with Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle and his team on skin receptors, and also measuring the channel capacity of sensory systems (and consciousness). He conducted his own research into new therapies with particular emphasis on multiple sclerosis, stroke, dementia, movement disorders, etc. He also made contributions for psychiatry, e.g. the glutamate theory. He contributed to Otorhinolaryngology (hand book articles such as Physiology and Clinic of the Vestibular System). Kornhuber also discovered the eye muscle field in the cerebellum.[6]

Awards and recognition

In 1967 Kornhuber received the Hans-Berger-Award of the German EEG society (DGKN) for his discovery of the cerebral foundations of will and purposeful actions (willingness to act).[7] The Bárány Society honored him with the Hallpike-Nylén-Award for his pioneering research on the vestibular system. He was awarded honorary membership by foreign oto-neurological societies. Universities awarded him as honorary professor and honorary doctor (University of Brussels). The Belgian neurophysiological society awarded Kornhuber an honorary membership. The Federal Republic of Germany honoured him for his efforts concerning the rehabilitation of patients with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the German Society of Psychiatry honoured him for his research in the field of schizophrenia by awarding him the Kurt-Schneider prize.[6]

Publications (selected)

Scientific articles

Books

See also

References

  1. ↑ Über Auslösung zyklothymer Depressionen durch seelische Erschütterungen. Heidelberg 1955.
  2. ↑ Optisch-vestibuläre und somatisch vestibuläre Integration an Neuronen der Großhirnrinde: Ein Beitrag zur multimodalen Koordination der Sinnesafferenzen. Freiburg i. Br. 1963.
  3. ↑ Marjan Jahanshahi and Mark Hallett (Eds.): The Bereitschaftspotential: movement-related cortical potentials. Kluwer, New York 2003
  4. ↑ H. H. Kornhuber, L. Deecke: Hirnpotentialänderungen beim Menschen vor und nach Willkürbewegungen, dargestellt mit Magnetbandspeicherung und Rückwärtsanalyse. In: Pflügers Arch. 281, 1964, S. 52.
  5. ↑ H. H. Kornhuber, L. Deecke: Readiness for movement - the Bereitschaftspotential story. In: Current Contents Life Sciences. 33 (4): 14 (1990) und Current Contents Clinical Medicine. 18 (4): 14 (1990), PDF
  6. 1 2 Lüder Deecke. Hans Helmut Kornhuber: Neurologist—Engaged Clinician—Neurophysiologist—Scientist and Humanist (Review). doi:10.1016/j.npbr.2013.05.001. Neurology, Psychiatry and Brain Research. Vol. 19, Iss. 3, August 2013, Pages 121–125
  7. ↑ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Klinische Neurophysiologie: Preise und Preisträger.

External links

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