Harry Angelman
Encyclopedia
Harry Angelman was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 consultant paediatrician who identified Angelman Syndrome
Angelman syndrome
Angelman syndrome is a neuro-genetic disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental delay, sleep disturbance, seizures, jerky movements , frequent laughter or smiling, and usually a happy demeanor....

.

Biography

Angelman was born in Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

 in 1915 and qualified in Liverpool. Angelman was an enthusiast for the language and country of Italy. He had observed three children who were unrelated but showed similar symptoms. He was in two minds as to whether he should publish his findings but he described seeing a painting which seemed to characterise the symptoms he had observed. The painting showed a boy with a puppet and was by the renaissance artist Giovanni Francesco Caroto
Giovanni Francesco Caroto
Giovanni Francesco Caroto was an Italian painter of the Renaissanceactive mainly in his native city of Verona.He initially apprenticed under Liberale da Verona , a conservative painter infused with the style of Mantegna...

.

The painting showed a child and a puppet and at first his 1965 paper described what he called "puppet children". His paper was not immediately recognised as important but later similar children led to the idea being renamed Angelman Syndrome
Angelman syndrome
Angelman syndrome is a neuro-genetic disorder characterized by intellectual and developmental delay, sleep disturbance, seizures, jerky movements , frequent laughter or smiling, and usually a happy demeanor....

. An American Angelman Syndrome Support Group was started in Waterlooville
Waterlooville
Waterlooville is a town in Hampshire, England approximately 8 miles north of Portsmouth.The town has a population itself of about 10,000 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendworth, Cowplain, Lovedean, Clanfield, Catherington, Crookhorn, Denmead, Hambledon, Horndean and Widley. It forms part of...

, Hampshire in 1986.

Angelman travelled to talk about his discovery and his work was mentioned as important by U.S. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

. Angelman died due to a colon tumour.
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