Stefan Rosental

Stefan Rosental (born 6 January 1886 in Warsaw, died 9 November 1917 in Moscow) was a Polish neurologist and psychiatrist.

Biography

Rosental was born in Warsaw into a Jewish family, the son of psychiatrist (1857–1921) and Aniela née London. He had a younger brother, Tadeusz (1888–after 1938). He lived with his parents in the building of the St. John Hospital on Bonifraterska Street. He graduated from IV Gymnasium in Warsaw in 1903 and began studies in the mathematics department at the University of Warsaw. After one semester, he switched to medicine, but in 1905, the university was closed, and Rosental continued his studies at the University of Wrocław.

In 1910, he had his degree recognized at the Odesa University, after which he worked as a ship's doctor, traveling to Egypt and Syria.

In July 1914, he became a volunteer assistant (Volontärassistent) at the psychiatric clinic in Heidelberg, directed by Franz Nissl. Shortly thereafter, he was mobilized into the Russian army as a doctor. He initially served on the Grodno evacuation commission and, from 1915, worked in the interior of Russia, in Petersburg and Moscow. He died on 9 November 1917 in Moscow due to an infectious disease, with news of his death confirmed three months later. He was buried at the Dorogomilovo Cemetery in the Dorogomilovo district of Moscow. A symbolic grave is located at the Jewish Cemetery on Okopowa Street in Warsaw.

An obituary for Rosental appeared in Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie.

Scientific contributions Rosental's scientific output includes about 20 works in Polish and German, the last of which was published posthumously, unfinished. His early works focused on psychopathology: his doctoral dissertation addressed delusions in the context of melancholia. Subsequent works explored the use of serological methods in psychiatry; he published a study on the composition of blood in patients with epilepsy, as well as on the application of the so-called Abderhalden method. His oeuvre includes case studies, such as a description of idiopathic intracranial hypertension and acute lethal catatonia. He was interested in the relationship between skull capacity and brain weight in mental disorders. While working with Nissl, he focused on studying glia and its changes in the course of schizophrenia.

List of works