Nikolaus Friedreich

Nikolaus Friedreich

Nikolaus Friedreich (1825 - 1882) French physician and pathologist, whose father and grandfather were also well known doctors in their time. Friedreich is particularly noted for his contributions to neurology, where he was the first to describe a progressive hereditary condition affecting the spinal cord and peripheral nerves, causing ataxia, now known as Friedreich's ataxia. His name is also associated with Friedreich's foot, or pes cavus (high arched foot) as is more commonly known. He also described Friedreich's sign, which is the sudden collapse of previously distended cervical veins during diastole, as a result of adherent pericardium. Along with the anatomist Leopold Auerbach (of the Auerbach's plexus fame) he described the Friedreich-Auerbach disease, a congenital hypertrohic disorder affecting the tongue, ears and facial features.