Wilhelm Uhthoff

Who was Wilhelm Uhthoff?

Wilhelm Uhthoff was a German ophthalmologist born in Klein-Warin.

In 1877 earned his doctorate at the University of Berlin, and later became a professor of ophthalmology at the Universities of Marburg and Breslau, where he succeeded Carl Friedrich Richard Förster.

Uhthoff specialized in the study of ophthalmological disorders that were related to the central nervous system. In 1890 he described a condition of temporary vision loss linked to physical exercise, and associated with optic neuritis. This condition was to become known as Uhthoff's phenomenon, and was later found to be caused by a rise in body temperature.

In 1915 he published a treatise titled Augensymptome bei Grosshirntumoren in which gave an early description of a neuro-ophthalmic disorder that was to become known as Foster Kennedy syndrome. However, the disease was to be named after Robert Foster Kennedy, who provided a more comprehensive account of the disorder.