Wroclaw as the Leading Neurolinguistics Center at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries
Wroclaw as the Leading Neurolinguistics Center at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: Pre-war Wroclaw was the prominent neurolinguistics center at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The achievements of Wernicke, his students and associates are well known worldwide; however, the contemporary context of the University of Wroclaw, archival details and evidence of memory, that is presented in this article, is crucial. The study on the human brain and its connection to languages can be found in the research conducted by German scientists such as professor doctor Carl Wernicke (1848–1905) and professor doctor Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915) before the Second World War at Breslau Universität, today known as the University of Wrocław. Many publications and papers published in pre-war Wrocław1 (Breslau) indicate that major discoveries took place in Wroclaw. The main objective of this research is to present, on the basis of archival documents, the group of neurologists and psychiatrists, the students of Carl Wernicke, who lived in the city and conducted their research on the brain. After Wernicke’s death, all of the students and assistants presented in the article took leading positions worldwide in conducting research on aphasia. Most of them continued Wernicke’s approach, while holding prominent university positions. The presented research may encourage other authors to carry out a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the achievements of the Wrocław School of Neurolinguistics.

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