2009/08/18 by Alla A. Vein · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · Neuroscience · #Mental Health and Psychiatry #Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices #Neurology and Historical Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00415-009-5289-x
openalex publication_date 2009/08/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
was the first Professor of Psychiatry in Russia and founder of the Moscow school of psychiatry (Fig. 1).Although he was head of the psychiatric clinic of Moscow University for only 12 years, his clinical approach and organizing skills influenced the direction in which Russian psychiatry developed and put it on the international map.Korsakov was born in 1854 in a large village in central Russia.On finishing school--the Moscow gymnasium--at the age of 16, he enrolled in the medical faculty of Moscow University.By 1875 he was a physician at the Moscow Preobrazhenskij mental hospital and 1 year later he joined the department of nervous and mental diseases, headed by Aleksey Yakovlevich Kozhevnikov (1836Kozhevnikov ( -1902)).Korsakov became his closest and most talented pupil.During his professional career, Korsakov frequently travelled abroad in order to familiarize himself with the psychiatric service in Europe.His first trip was in 1885 to Vienna, where he visited Theodor Meynert.In 1889 he went to Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy.He visited Westphal in the Berlin Charite ´, Flechsig in Leipzig, and Magnan in Paris.In 1892 he paid a visit to Krafft-Ebing in Vienna and in 1894 to Kraepelin in Heidelberg.These visits helped Korsakov to establish close contacts with leading European neurologists and psychiatrists.