Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot was born on November 29th, 1825, in Paris. French physician and scientist, he achieved fame in the field of psychiatry and neurology in the second half of the 19th century. He was considered one of the greatest clinicians and professors of medicine in France and, together with Guillaume Duchenne, the founder of modern neurology. The first to describe neuropathic arthropathy, neuropathic osteoarthropathy or Charcot joint, which corresponds to the progressive degeneration of a joint of the feet, legs or pelvis (joints responsible for carrying the body’s weight). It is a process marked by bone destruction, bone resorption and eventual deformity due to loss of sensation over many months or years, a situation seen in tertiary syphilis.