Joseph Babinski: biography of this famous neurologist

The life of Joseph Babinski shows us the development of one of Europe's leading neurologists.

Neurology is one of the newest sciences. The first scientific investigations to address the brain mechanisms behind various diseases are only about a hundred years old.

One of the most important figures addressing the neurological causes of various disorders, and a pioneer in neurosurgery, was Joseph Babiński who, in addition to giving his name to a reflex present in infants, contributed significantly to the development of neurology and psychiatry.

In this article we will look at a brief biography of Joseph BabińskiWe will explain what his research consisted of and what was his role in the establishment of modern neurosciences.

Biography of Joseph Babiński

Joseph Jules François François Félix Babiński was a neurologist who was born on November 17, 1857 in Paris, France.and died in the same city on October 29, 1932, at the age of 74.

Of Polish origin, his parents decided to flee Poland after the invasion of Tsarist Russia that sought to quell the country's independence pretensions.

Babiński grew up in Paris, and in his early years was trained at the Polish school of Batignolles.

Professional training.

In 1879 he was assigned as a medical intern in the service of Victor André Cornil at the Hôtel-Dieuan institution whose purpose was to provide aid to orphans, destitute and pilgrims and which was administered by the Church.

He was later able to study medicine in Paris, graduating in 1884. That same year he had the opportunity to work as head of Jean-Martin Charcot's clinic at the Salpêtrière in Paris. at the Salpêtrière. The following year, he managed to finish his thesis: Anatomical and clinical study on plaque sclerosis..

Babiński was adopted by Charcot as one of his favorite disciples.. In addition to exerting an important influence on him, Joseph Babiński took as referents other illustrious figures in medicine of the time, such as Legrand du Saulle, Ranvier, de Vulpian and Cornil himself, with whom he had worked years before.

At first he wanted to become a university professor, but he was not lucky. The reason he was not accepted as a new professor at the university was that he failed to pass the examination, along with another candidate, Gilles de la Tourette. This was partly due to bad relations between his mentor Charcot and the selection board. After being rejected the first time, Babiński opted to give up.

In 1890 he succeeded in obtaining a position as chief clinician at the Pitiéwhich he held until his retirement in 1922.

Research and work

Babiński focused his research on ascertaining the mechanisms involved behind psychological disorders and diseases of the nervous system.. It was quite common at that time to classify various diseases when they presented some unknown causes: hysteria.

While practicing at the Pitié, in 1896 Babiński succeeded in identifying the phenomenon that would later bear his surname: Babiński's sign.. This sign implies that there is a reflex in the soles of the feet that causes them to spread out. In a healthy, adult person, it is normal that, upon this type of stimulation, the foot flexes. The origin of this abnormal reflex is due to lesions in the pyramidal pathways.

Following this finding, Babiński published a short article entitled On the cutaneous-plantar reflexes in some organic damage of the central nervous system..

It should be said that before he noticed this phenomenon, the German E. Remak had already described it, but without knowing exactly its neurological origin. In addition to this, it was Babiński who succeeded in using the presence of this erratic reflex as a criterion in the differential diagnosis between hysterical and organic hemiparesisattributing its origin to a malfunction of the nervous system.

In 1898 he published again an article in which he dealt with the same subject. He reported that he failed to find this sign in patients with hysteria. Some years later, in 1903, he published a new article, explaining that the appearance of the reflex in the soles of the feet occurred when the pyramidal system had been injured in adults, but he also explained that in healthy children it could also be found in children with hysteria. explained that the same reflex could be found in healthy children..

Infants do not have a fully developed pyramidal system, which is why they manifest this sign. In phylogenetic terms, the appearance of this reflex in adult life is a regression to a stage in which complete control of locomotion has not yet been achieved.

His studies on hysteria

Babiński was not only known for the reflex bearing his same surname. In his time he managed to become famous thanks to the fact that he generated a huge scandal at the Salpêtrière. Although he initially shared Charcot's praxis and his same ideas regarding hysteria, over time he changed his view of this. Moreover, he discovered that some cases of hysteria he discovered that some cases of hysteria had an important autosuggestion component, seeing that perhaps they could be cured.He saw that perhaps they could be cured by persuasion exerted by another person.

In addition to this, he discovered that to a certain extent, physicians such as Charcot and his colleagues had indirectly generated hysterical symptomatology by influencing patients.by influencing the patients. This statement caused a real uproar at the Salpêtrière.

Babiński-Frölich's disease

Babiński was key in the investigation of some diseases. An example of this is adipose-genital syndrome, described in 1900 and later named Babiński-Frölich disease..

This disease involves the development of the sexual organs being disrupted, in addition to there being an excessive accumulation of fat in different parts of the body, headaches and Diabetes insipidus. Its origin lies in a malfunction in the hypothalamus-pituitary axis.

Death and legacy

Joseph Babiński was one of the pioneers in the field of neurosurgery, a discipline that at the time was just showing the first signs of life. He made this field known through two works: The section of the external branch of the spinal cord in the so-called mental torticollis (1907) y Decompressive craniectomy (1991).

He was also known for being one of the first Frenchmen to intervene surgically in areas of the nervous system. In 1922 he located a spinal tumor and removed it.

Ten years after this great event in his life, Babiński died in 1932 from Parkinson's disease,

This scientist This scientist served as an example and guide for several neurologists, one of his most outstanding disciples being Egas Monizwho in turn was one of the precursors of prefrontal lobotomy. His own disciples elaborated, after his death, a work in which several of the studies elaborated by Joseph Babiński were compiled (Oeuvre Scientifique, 1934).

Bibliographical references:

• Philippon J, Poirier J. (2009) Joseph Babinski. A biography. New York, United States. Oxford University Press,
• Massie R. (2004). Charcot and Babinski: beyond a simple teacher-student relationship. The Canadian journal of neurological sciences, 31, 422-426.