Here we are at the Constantin von Economo Plaque. It marks a place where science and humanity intertwined. Constantin von Economo lived in this house from 1905 to 1931. The plaque honors Constantin von Economo. It calls him a great brain researcher and friend to humanity.
Constantin von Economo was born in 1876 in Brăila. Brăila is in Romania. His family was wealthy with holdings in Thessaly and Macedonia. The Economo family came from Edessa. Edessa was in the Ottoman Sanjak of Salonica. Some of Constantin’s ancestors were notables. His family included many bishops. In 1877, his family moved to Trieste. Trieste was then part of Austria-Hungary. Constantin spent his childhood and youth there.
Constantin was a good student. He spoke several languages fluently. In 1906, his family was ennobled. Economo became “Freiherr” or Baron. At his father’s request, Constantin studied mechanical engineering. This was at the Polytechnic University of Vienna. He switched to medicine after two years. In 1899, he published his first scientific work. It was “Zur Entwicklung der Vogelhypophyse”. This translates to “On the Development of the Pituitary Gland in Birds”. Economo worked for Sigmund Exner from 1900 to 1903. He earned his medical degree in 1901.
From 1903 to 1904, he was a resident. He worked at the Clinic of Internal Medicine under Carl Wilhelm Hermann Nothnagel. Subsequently, he traveled through Europe. He studied neurology, histology, and psychiatry in Paris. He worked under Alexis Joffroy, Valentin Magnan, and Pierre Marie. In Nancy, he studied hypnosis under Hippolyte Bernheim. In Strasbourg, he learned microscopic research of the nervous system under Albrecht von Bethe. In Munich, von Economo worked with Emil Kraepelin and Alois Alzheimer. He wrote “Contribution to the normal anatomy of the ganglion cell.” He also worked in Berlin and Trieste.
He obtained his habilitation in 1913. In 1921, von Economo became Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology. He conducted research at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Nervous Diseases in Vienna. In 1931, he became head of a new department of brain research. He died five months later.
Von Economo was not only a scientist but also a pilot. In 1912, he became the first Austrian with an international pilot’s diploma. From 1910 until 1926, he was President of the Austrian Aero-Club. He also chaired the Aviation Board. During World War I, he served in the automobile corps. Later he became a pilot. In 1916, he returned to Vienna to care for patients with head injuries. Here, he saw his first cases of Encephalitis lethargica.
Von Economo published about 150 articles and books. He studied the neuroanatomy and physiology of the midbrain, pons, and trigeminal nerve pathway. He wrote about choreic hemiplegia and pontine tumors.
He is most known for his work on Encephalitis lethargica. This encephalitis occurred worldwide from 1915 to about 1924. It caused lesions in the substantia nigra. Von Economo described the symptoms, pathology, and histology. It was soon called Von Economo’s Disease. He identified three forms.
Von Economo published his findings in 1917. It was in an article called “Die Encephalitis lethargica”. In 1929, he wrote the monograph “Die Encephalitis lethargica, ihre Nachkrankheiten und ihre Behandlung”. The condition has not occurred since 1940.
Von Economo and Georg N. Koskinas divided the cortex into seven lobes. They published “Die Cytoarchitektonik der Hirnrinde des erwachsenen Menschen” in 1925. This translates to “Cytoarchitectonics of the Adult Human Cerebral Cortex”.
“Von Economo neurons”, or spindle neurons, are large nerve cells. Von Economo identified these in the anterior cingulate and fronto-insular cortex.
Constantin von Economo died in Vienna in 1931. He was 55. He died from the sequelae of a heart attack. He was honored by an Austrian stamp in 1976. Since 1966, a bust of him has been in the “Arkadenhof” of the University of Vienna. This Constantin von Economo Plaque reminds us of his great contributions. He was a pioneer in brain research.