175 years ago Heinrich Obersteiner was born in Vienna on November 13, 1847. He died on November 19, 1922 in Vienna.
Obersteiner studied medicine at the University of Vienna from 1865. He received a doctorate in medicine in 1870 and a doctorate in surgery in 1871. From 1872 he worked as director, physician and psychiatrist of the Döblinger Privatheilanstalt. In addition, he habilitated at the University of Vienna in physiology and pathology of the nervous system in 1873. In 1880 he was appointed associate professor, and in 1898 he received the professional title of full professor.
In 1882 Heinrich Obersteiner founded the world’s first brain research institute (since 1900: “Neurological Institute”) which quickly established itself as a teaching and research institution of international standing. He directed the institute until his retirement in 1919.
Obersteiner was president of the Association for Psychiatry and Neurology from 1902 to 1918 and co-founder of the International Brain Commission, which existed from 1903 to 1914. In his research he devoted himself to neurophysiology and neuroanatomy. With his book „Anleitung beim Studium des Baues der nervösen Zentralorgane im gesunden und im kranken Zustand“ (1888) he created an international standard work.
