George Huntington

George Huntington (April 9, 1850 – March 3, 1916) was an American physician.

Huntington's disease bears his name because he described the condition in the first of only two academic papers he ever wrote. He wrote this paper when he was 22, one year after getting his medical degree at Columbia University in New York City. Initially he read the paper before the Meigs and Mason Academy of Medicine at Middleport, Ohio on February 15, 1872. It was later published in the Medical and Surgical Reporter of Philadelphia, on April 13, 1872.cite journal| last=Huntington |first= G.| title=On Chorea|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Chorea| journal=Medical and Surgical Reporter of Philadelphia| volume=26| issue=15| date=1872-04-13| pages=317–321] [cite journal |author=Lanska DJ |title=George Huntington (1850-1916) and hereditary chorea |journal=J Hist Neurosci |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=76–89 |year=2000 |month=April |pmid=11232352 |doi= |url= |issn=] See wikisource for the text of this paper.

His father, George Lee Huntington (1811-1881) and grandfather, Dr. Abel Huntington (1778-1858), were also physicians in the same family practice. Their observations combined with his own were invaluable in precisely describing this disease, which afflicted several generations of a family in East Hampton on Long Island.

William Osler "In the history of medicine, there are few instances in which a disease has been more accurately, more graphically or more briefly described."

In 1874 He returned to Duchess County, New York to practice medicine. [ [http://www.lkwdpl.org/hdsa/conomy.htm Dr. George Huntington and the Disease Bearing His Name ] at www.lkwdpl.org]

George Huntington should not be confused with George Sumner Huntington (1861-1927), the anatomist. Both men attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York.cite journal |author=van der Weiden RM |title=George Huntington and George Sumner Huntington. A tale of two doctors |journal=Hist Philos Life Sci |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=297–304 |year=1989 |pmid=2534642 |doi= |url= |issn=]

References

External links

* [http://www.shv.ch/download/BiographyGeorgeHuntington.doc] 'History of Medicine Bulletin - The Johns Hopkins University' : Much more biographical information.