J Neurol (2000) 247 : 814–815© Steinkopff Verlag 2000

The Belgian neurologist and neu-ropathologist Ludo van Bogaert(Fig. 1) was born in Antwerp in 1897,the son of a physician. He began hismedical studies in The Netherlandsduring the First World War but inter-rupted them to volunteer to serve inthe Belgian Army. His second woundin 1918 produced temporary paraple-gia due to a spinal concussion. Afterthe War he pursued his medical stud-ies at the Free University of Brusselsand showed a very keen interest inneurology. Four years later he ob-tained a PhD and presented an inau-gural lecture on cerebral architecton-ics in neurology and psychiatry. Hecontinued his training in neurologyand neuropathology in France withMarie, Foix, Babinski, and Bertrand.He also studied neuropathology inGermany with Spielmeyer. He wasable to combine the French school ofneuropathology, oriented towardsanatomo-clinical correlations andhodography, with the German school,focusing on the structure of patholog-ical processes.

Dr. van Bogaert started his careerof physician in the public hospitals inAntwerp, where he became Chief ofthe Department of Medicine atStuyvenberg Hospital. He developed alaboratory of neuropathology in thecellar of the hospital and also operateda private practice in Antwerp. Whenthe Bunge Institute for surgical andmedical studies was created at the ini-tiative of the Bunge family, van Bo-

gaert became Head of the Departmentof Neurology and transferred his labor-atory of neuropathology there. Later,after the addition of other laboratoriesfor neurochemistry, genetics and car-diology, he felt the necessity to sepa-rate clinically oriented research fromhospital practice. With the Born,Bunge and Bracht families he createdthe Born-Bunge foundation for scien-tific research while still remaining ac-tive in the field of clinical neurology.

His scientific career was domi-nated by his keen interest for heredityin neurological diseases. He also de-scribed a great number of conditionsaffecting the central nervous system,such as cerebro-tendinous xan-thomatosis, subacute sclerosing pa-nencephalitis and the spongy degene-ration of the neuraxis (asparto-acylasedeficiency). He made major contribu-tions to heredo-degenerative disordersof the nervous system, hereditary mo-tor and sensory neuropathies, ceroid-lipofuscinoses, lipidoses and phaco-matoses. He wrote seminal papers onwhite matter diseases, familialAlzheimer disease, acute necrotizingencephalitis, tropical and experimen-tal neuropathology. In all, he authoredmore than 700 scientific papers andbooks. As a teacher he trained a largenumber of Belgian neurologists aswell as many European neuropatholo-gists and neurologists. He contributedto founding the World Federation ofNeurology and was its first President,serving two terms of office.

PIONEERS IN NEUROLOGY

Jean-Jacques Martin Ludo van Bogaert (1897–1989)

Received: 11 May 2000 Accepted: 28 May 2000

J.-J. Martin (�)Born-Bunge Foundation,and Department of Neurology,University of Antwerp,Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerp,Belgium

Fig. 1 Ludo van Bogaert (1897–1989)

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gaert-Sheid Legacy), of manuscriptsand correspondence, donated to theNational Library in Brussels, and ofhistorical artefacts from Antwerp,now in the Bokrijk Museum in Lim-burg. During his lifetime all of thiswas kept in his large patrician house inAntwerp.

References

Lowenthal A (1998) Ludo van Bogaert(1897–1989). J Med Biography6:200–202

Martin J-J, Martin L (1990) Hommage àMonsieur Ludo van Bogaert. Acta Neu-rol Belg 90:27–45

Martin L, Martin J-J (1996) Ludo van Bo-gaert (1897–1989). Acta Neurol Belg96:254–263

Van Bogaert loved literature andcounted Paul Valéry and Henri Boscoamong friends. He owned a large col-lection of paintings by Rik Wouters,which he donated to the Antwerp Mu-seum of Fine Arts, of Chinese pottery,which was sold after his death to sup-port the scientific activities of theBorn-Bunge Foundation (van Bo-