Little beauty, johann lucas

Würzburg; Schönlein-Henoch purpura; favus; 

(Born November 30, 1793; died 1864) Internist, practiced in Würzburg, Zurich, and Berlin. Schönlein was born on November 30, 1793, in Bamberg, the son of a rope maker. He first attended high school in Bamberg and began studying the natural sciences in 1811, followed by medicine, in Würzburg. In 1816, he earned his doctorate there with a dissertation on “The Metamorphosis of the Brain.” Study visits took Schönlein to Göttingen, Gotha, and Jena.

At age 24, he completed his habilitation in Würzburg. At age 25, he was appointed medical director of the Juliusberg Medical Clinic. Between 1818 and 1830, he was the first to deliver lectures on purely dermatological topics in Würzburg. He devoted one of his lecture series to syphilitic diseases.

In 1824, he was appointed full professor of special pathology.

In his day, Schönlein was considered the best German internist. However, after actively participating in the Hambach Festival, he was forcibly transferred by the Bavarian government to serve as a public health officer in Passau. He refused this transfer. Instead, he moved to Frankfurt am Main to practice as a general practitioner.

In 1833, he was appointed to the newly founded Faculty of Medicine in Zurich.

1840–1859: Professor at the University of Berlin and director of the Charité Medical Clinic.

Schönlein was not only an outstanding clinician but also an extraordinarily influential teacher. Among his students was Rudolf Virchow, who later founded the field of cellular pathology. Schönlein published only a single scientific work: his dissertation.

1864: Died on January 23 in Bamberg.

Field(s) of research: 

In 1832, Schönlein described a condition he termed “peliosis rheumatica,” characterized by purpuric skin lesions accompanied by joint pain. His student Eduard Heinrich Henoch later expanded on the condition, particularly describing its abdominal and renal manifestations. Today, we know this clinical picture as IgA vasculitis, an immune-complex vasculitis of small vessels primarily affecting the skin, joints, gastrointestinal tract, and kidneys.

In 1839, Schönlein discovered a fungus as the causative agent of favus. The “favus fungus” was later named Achorion schoenleinii. Today, it is classified as Trichophyton schoenleinii.

His discovery at the time was nothing short of revolutionary: for the first time, a human disease could be convincingly linked to a microscopically detectable fungal pathogen. The findings were published by his colleague Robert Remak in 1845.

1832: First description ofSchönlein-Henoch purpura (anaphylactic purpura); 1839: First description of the favus fungus (Trichophyton schoenleinii).

1. Olk J et al. (2019) Department of Dermatology, Venereology, and Allergology at the University Hospital of Würzburg: Past and Present. Akt Dermatol 45: 14–23 
2. Seebacher, C. (2008) In: Löser, Ch., Plewig, F. (eds.) Pantheon of Dermatology, pp. 934–938. Springer Medizin Verlag, Heidelberg