Friedrich Christoph Pelizaeus (April 3, 1851 - August 11, 1942) was a German balneologist and neurologist

Neurologist

A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...

 who was a native of Rietberg

Rietberg

Rietberg is a town in the district of Gütersloh in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approx. 10 km south of Gütersloh and 25 km north-west of Paderborn in the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The town is located at the river Ems. There are 28,878 people living in...

.

In 1874 he earned his medical doctorate from the University of Würzburg

University of Würzburg

The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...

, and afterwards was an assistant to Karl Friedrich Ferdinand Runge (1835-1882) at the resort in Nassau an der Lahn. Later he worked as a balneologist at Ilmenau

Ilmenau

Ilmenau is a town located in the district of Ilm-Kreis, Thuringia, Germany.Ilmenau is situated in the valley of the Ilm river, at an altitude of 431 metres above sea level, and is the biggest town in Ilm-Kreis district, with 6,200 students studying at the Technische Universität Ilmenau. The...

, Kreischa

Kreischa

Kreischa is a municipality in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, Saxony, Germany. It directly borders the Saxon capital Dresden and consists of 14 districts.Kreischa was first mentioned in 1282...

 and Bad Oeynhausen

Bad Oeynhausen

Bad Oeynhausen is a spa town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.- Geography :Bad Oeynhausen is located on the banks of the Weser river, which runs along the eastern edges of the town. Bad Oeynhausen has the world's highest carbonated, thermal saltwater fountain,...

. In 1896 he received the title of Sanitätsrat (health advisor). Pelizaeus died in Kassel

Kassel

Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...

 on August 11, 1942.

In 1885 he provided the first description of a dysmyelinating

Myelin

Myelin is a dielectric material that forms a layer, the myelin sheath, usually around only the axon of a neuron. It is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system. Myelin is an outgrowth of a type of glial cell. The production of the myelin sheath is called myelination...

 central nervous system

Central nervous system

The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...

 disorder that was to become known as Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease

Pelizaeus–Merzbacher disease is a rare central nervous system disorder in which coordination, motor abilities, and intellectual function are delayed to variable extents.-Classification:...

, named with neuropathologist Ludwig Merzbacher

Ludwig Merzbacher

Ludwig Merzbacher was a German neuropathologist and psychiatrist who was born in Florence, Italy.In 1900 he received his medical doctorate from the University of Strassburg, and remained in Strassburg as an assistant at the physiological institute...

(1875–1942), who performed research of the disease independent of Pelizaeus.