Ludwig Türck

Ludwig Türck (22 July 1810 – 25 February 1868)^[1] was an Austrian neurologist who was a native of Vienna.

Ludwig Türck (1810-1868)

In 1836 he obtained his medical doctorate from the University of Vienna, where in 1864 he became a full professor.

He is remembered for his pioneer investigations of the central nervous system, particularly his studies involving nerve fiber localization, direction and degeneration.^[2] His name is lent to the "bundle of Türck", which are uncrossed fibers forming a small bundle in the pyramidal tract. Today this bundle of fibers is usually called by its clinical name: the anterior corticospinal tract. In medical literature, the terms "Türck's bundle", "Türck's column" and "Türck's tract" are also used for the anterior corticospinal tract.^[3]

During the latter part of the 1850s, Türck, along with physiologist Johann Nepomuk Czermak (1828-1873) were responsible for introducing the laryngoscope into medicine. Among Türck's assistants and students in Vienna were laryngologists Karl Stoerk (1832-1899), Leopold von Schrötter (1837-1908) and Johann Schnitzler (1835-1893).

Selected writings

• Praktische Anleitung zur Laryngoskopie (Practical guide to laryngoscopy); (1860)
• Klinik der Krankheiten des Kehlkopfes und der Luftröhre, nebst einer Anleitung zum Gebrauche des Kehlkopfrachenspiegels und zur Lokalbehandlung der Kehlkopfkrankheiten (1866)
• Über Hautsensibilitätsbezirke der einzelnen Rückenmarksnervenpaare (Investigations of the cutaneous distribution of the separate pairs of spinal nerves) (1869); with Carl Wedl (1815-1891).