Professor Bernhard Pollack (1865–1928) of Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin: Neurohistologist, Ophthalmologist, Pianist

Abstract

This article highlights the life and work of Bernhard Pollack (1865–1928), a pioneer neurohistologist, ophthalmologist, and world-class pianist. In 1897, Pollack published the first standard manual on staining methods for the nervous system. Born into a Prussian-Jewish family, he received his piano education from the composer Moritz Moszkowski and his pathology education from Carl Weigert. Pollack worked in the Institutes of Wilhelm Waldeyer (anatomy), Emanuel Mendel (neuropsychiatry), the later Nobel laureate Robert Koch (infectious diseases), and the Eye Policlinic of Paul Silex (ophthalmology), becoming a Professor of Ophthalmology at Berlin’s Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in 1919. The study also chronicles the founding by Pollack of the Berlin Doctors’ Orchestra in 1911.