Friedrich Wilhelm Felix von Bärensprung
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Friedrich Wilhelm Felix von Bärensprung (March 30, 1822 - August 26, 1864) was a German dermatologist who was born in Berlin. In 1843 he obtained his doctorate at Halle an der Saale, and became a clinical assistant to Peter Krukenberg (1788-1865) at Halle. In 1850 he founded a private clinic in Halle, and in 1853 became chief physician at the Syphilisklinik at the Berlin Charité. In 1857 he was a professor at the University of Berlin. His father, Friedrich von Bärensprung was mayor of Berlin in 1832-34.
Bärensprung was the first physician to provide a link between herpes zoster and a lesion of the dorsal root ganglion. Subsequently he identified nine varieties of the disorder, which he classified according to the nerve involved. He also provided the first description of tinea cruris, which is sometimes referred to as "Bärensprung's erythrasma".
Bärensprung advocated the creation of day nurseries for children and housing projects for the impoverished, in order to prevent the spread of epidemics such as tuberculosis and scrofulosis. Among his written works was an atlas on skin diseases that was edited posthumously by Carl Heitzmann (1836-1896) and Ferdinand von Hebra (1816-1880).
