james parkinson life & time

Introduction

To honor the 250th birthday of James Parkinson and continue its tradition of historical exhibits in their international congresses, the Movement Disorders Society, with the support of an unrestricted educational grant from Cephalon, sponsored an exhibition in New Orleans as part of its 2005 session. Work with staff and the Executive Director, Caley Kleczka, my colleagues and I developed an exhibition that toured the life and times of James Parkinson in a context that honored the first advances in our understanding of Parkinson's disease. Jennifer Goldman concentrated on the biographical details of James Parkinson and his efforts were greatly aided by a gift to me from the late Robert Currier, MD, who had gathered much material Parkinson gave me his collection before his death. Douglas Lanska related materials provided medical instruments and tools used to study Parkinson's disease and other tremor disorders. I provided general information and organization, in collaboration with other members of MDS to collect contributions to enrich the screens. Finally, my close colleague artist, Teresa Chmura, took our concepts and project data in paper and sketches the reality of occupational exposure. In addition to the text materials and art, a series of historical videos Movement Disorder Society Archives complements the exhibition. A video contribution ups "by James Parkinson London" by David Williams, with narration by Gerald Stern, is expected to be presented to the Movement Disorders peer review and therefore is likely to be available through the magazine in the future.

The exhibition held court at the meeting in a week, but then was dismantled and placed in storage. To keep the text materials and art in a format accessible to interested researchers, the MDS has funded the creation of this presentation the website that has been designed and executed by Joseph Hausfeld. Materials display video are not included, as they are widely available from DVD videos and society magazine, Movement Disorders.

The exhibition organizers to join me in the hope that this material is accessed and used frequently by members of the MDS and other researchers interested in the historical foundations of our field. The heavy reliance on visual materials has a purpose and encourage the study of the photographs and diagrams showing patients and study techniques of previous times, all aimed at improving visual skills of specialists in movement disorders. As the famous nineteenth century neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, emphasized to his students:

Somebody said a doctor who really knows their physiology or anatomy that is dynamic real-are not met, but if you say you are an observer, a man who can see, this is perhaps the greatest compliment one can do (1888).