Siegfried Kalischer

Life & Legacy

Siegfried Kalischer (7 May 1862, Thorn – 31 March 1954, Copenhagen) was a German neurologist and researcher.
A cousin of anatomist and neurologist Otto Kalischer, Siegfried studied medicine at universities in Berlin and Würzburg, and graduated from the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in 1885 with the dissertation "Zur Frage über den Einfluss der erblichen Belastung auf Entwicklung, Verlauf und Prognose der Geistesstörungen". In 1891, he became the head of the clinic for nervous diseases in Berlin-Schlachtensee.
His research provided the first pathological evidence for William Allen Sturge's hypothesis about the port-wine stain characteristic of what is presently known as Sturge-Weber syndrome (SKW). Historically, the condition was sometimes known as Sturge–Kalischer–Weber–Dimitri syndrome.
He served on the editorial board of Jahresbericht über die Leistungen und Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete von Neurologie und Psychiatrie.
His notable patients included the Hungarian minister of finance Loránt Hegedüs and Martha Fontane, daughter of the writer Theodor Fontane.
Kalischer emigrated to Denmark in the 1930s. He died in Copenhagen on 31 March 1954, aged 91.