Alfred Goldscheider

Who was Alfred Goldscheider?

Johannes Karl Eugen Alfred Goldscheider was a German neurologist born in Sommerfeld.

He studied medicine at Friedrich-Wilhelm Medical-Surgical Institute in Berlin, and subsequently spent the next seven years as a military physician. During this time he also served as an assistant to physiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond. He later became a professor at the University of Berlin.

Goldscheider is best known for his work with the somatosensory system, in particular, research of the body's thermoreceptors in regards to localized "coolness" and "warmness" spots. He also performed research of localized tactile skin sensitivity that included tests involving "pain" and "tickle" sensations. The eponymous terms, "Goldscheider's test" and "Goldscheider's percussion" are derived from his research. During this time period in the early 1880s, Swedish physician Magnus Blix of the University of Uppsala was performing similar tests, independent of Goldscheider.

In the late 1890s, with neurologist Edward Flatau, Goldscheider performed studies on the structure of nerve cells and their changes under different stimuli.