Johannes Orth

John Orth ( born January 14, 1847 in Wallmerod; † 13 January 1923 in Berlin) was a German physician, anatomist and pathologist.

Life

John Orth was born on January 14, 1847 in a small town in the Westerwald. After completing his studies in medicine at the University of Bonn, he immediately pursued a career as a pathologist. After obtaining the PhD degree in 1872, he was then assistant to the famous Rudolf Virchow in Berlin in the year. 1878 was appointed as a professor at the University of Göttingen. There he remained until he was called back in 1902 returned to Berlin to compete Virchow's successor. John Orth died in 1923 one day before his 76th birthday from an inflammation of the bile ducts ( cholangitis ), after he had repeatedly suffered bouts jaundice due to gallstones. At the cemetery Grunewald there is still honor his grave.

Work

During his time as an assistant at Virchow published Orth description of a distinct yellowing of the brain with emphasis on the basal ganglia in a newborn that had died with symptoms of neonatal jaundice without other identifiable cause. This is considered the first description of kernicterus, although the term was coined later by Christian Georg Schmorl. His main focus lays Orth later on the pathology of infectious diseases, among others, of tuberculosis. He has published several widely used textbooks, and had the reputation as an excellent teacher.