Walther Spielmeyer (23 April 1879 – 6 February 1935) was a German neuropathologist who was a native of Dessau.
He studied medicine at the University of Halle as a student of Eduard Hitzig (1838-1907). At Halle he was influenced by the work of psychiatrists Karl Heilbronner (1869-1914), Gustav Aschaffenburg (1866-1944) and pathologist Karl Joseph Eberth (1835-1926).[1] In 1906 he relocated to Freiburg as an assistant to Alfred Hoche (1865-1943). At the suggestion of Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926), he succeeded Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915) as director of the Anatomisches Laboratorium der Psychiatrischen und NervenklivikinMunich. At Munich he worked with Franz Nissl (1860-1919) and Felix Plaut (1877-1940).
In 1928 the Rockefeller Foundation financed the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute with Spielmeyer as director of the Hirnpathologisches Institut. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis on February 6, 1935.[2]
Spielmeyer is remembered for his research of peripheral nervous system injuries as well as his specialized study of disturbed brain function caused by temporary circulation problems.[3] He is credited with making significant contributions involving the function of glia in inflammatory processes and on the pathophysiology of cerebral blood flow in neurological-psychiatric disorders.
He was the author of highly regarded books on the neurohistology and histopathology of the nervous system; "Technik der mikroskopischen Untersuchung des Nervensystems" (1911) and "Histopathologie des Neurvensystems" (1922), the latter work being known for its excellent illustrations.[3] He coined the term "Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease" to refer to a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease first described separately by the eponymous German neurologists.[4]
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