Paul Julius Möbius

Paul Julius Möbius (surname sometimes spelled Moebius) (1853-1907) was a German neurologist who was born in Leipzig. Prior to entering the medical field in 1873, he studied philosophy and theology at the universities of Leipzig, Jena and Marburg.

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Möbius spent most of his medical career in Leipzig, doing clinical work as well as being a physician in his private practice. In the early 1880s, he was an assistant to neurologist Adolph Strümpell at the Medizinischen Poliklinik. He was a prolific writer and is well-known for publications in the fields of neurophysiology and endocrinology, He was also an editor of Schmidt's Jahrbücher für die gesammte Medicin.

Today, Möbius is primarily known for the Mobius syndrome, a disease he identified as "nuclear atrophy". This is a rare type of palsy associated with paralysis of the cranial nerves VI and VII. This results in the patient having a masklike facial expression along with many other abnormalities such as drooling, crossed eyes, speech difficulties and problems swallowing.

Other eponyms associated with Möbius:

• Leyden-Möbius syndrome: muscular dystrophy in the pelvic region; named along with neurologist Ernst Viktor von Leyden.
• Möbius' sign: weakness of eye convergence; a situation when one eye converges and the other diverges when looking at the tip of one’s nose.

Partial bibliography:

• Grundriss des deutschen Militärsanitätswesens. Leipzig, 1878.
• Über hereditäre Nervenkrankheiten. (Volkmann’s) Sammlung klinischer Vorträge. Leipzig, 1879.
• Das Nervensystem des Menschen. Leipzig, 1880.
• Die Nervosität. Leipzig, 1882; 3rd edition, 1906.
• Über angeborene Facialis-Abducenslähmung. Münchener mediznische Wochenschrift, 1888.
• Über den physiologischen Schwachsinn des Weibes. Slg. Abh. Nervenkrkh. Volume 3, H. 3. Halle, 1900; 9th edition, 1908.
• Beiträge zur Lehre von den Geschlechtsunterschieden. Halle, 1903-1904.
• Im Grenzlande. Aufsätze über Sachen des Glaubens. Leipzig, 1905.