Petrus Johannes Waardenburg

Petrus Johannes Waardenburg ( born June 3, 1886 in Nijeveen; † 23 September 1979) was a Dutch ophthalmologist and geneticist.

Life

After studying medicine at the University of Utrecht to Waardenburg formed further in the field of ophthalmology. He did his PhD on the genetic basis of the physiological and pathological characteristics of the eye. He dedicated the hereditary eye disease caused his particular interest. As early as 1932 he suggested that Down's syndrome is a chromosomal aberration could be based. This fact was not confirmed until 27 years later by Jérôme Lejeune and colleagues. 1936 Habilitation Waardenburg in human genetics. However, only in 1952 at the age of 66 years he was appointed to the Chair of Genetics at the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Leiden. During the German occupation of Holland Waardenburg entered against the racial policies of Nazi Germany.

Work

Waardenburgs name is associated with various congenital hereditary malformation syndromes that have been described by him for the first time and are now known by the name of Waardenburg syndrome 1-4.