António Egas Moniz

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António Egas Moniz
Born(1874-11-29)29 November 1874
Died13 December 1955(1955-12-13) (aged 81)
NationalityPortugal
Alma materUniversity of Coimbra
Known forPrefrontal leucotomy; Cerebral angiography
AwardsNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949
Scientific career
FieldsNeurologist
InstitutionsUniversity of Coimbra (1902); University of Lisbon (1921–1944)
This is a Portuguese name; the first family name is Egas and the second is Moniz.

António Egas Moniz (António Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz, 29 November 1874 – 13 December 1955), known as Egas Moniz, was a Portuguese neurologist.

He developed cerebral angiography, a technique to visualise the blood vessels in and around the brain. This technique is widely used today. He also developed the surgical procedure leucotomy, also known as lobotomy. This technique is now rarely used.

Antonio Egas is highly regarded.[1] More commonly, Gottlieb Burckhardt is regarded as the founder of modern psychosurgery. [2] He became the first Portuguese national to receive a Nobel Prize when, in 1949, he shared it with Walter Rudolf Hess.[3]

He held academic positions, wrote many medical articles and also served in several legislative and diplomatic posts in the Portuguese government. In 1911 he became professor of neurology in Lisbon until his retirement in 1944. At the same time, he pursued a demanding political career.

References[change | change source]

  1. "neurosurgery".
  2. See for instance: Berrios, German E. (1997). "The origins of psychosurgery: Shaw, Burckhardt and Moniz". History of Psychiatry. 8 (1): 61–81. doi:10.1177/0957154X9700802905. ISSN 0957-154X. PMID 11619209. S2CID 22225524. Stone, James L. (2001). "Gottlieb Burckhardt: the pioneer of psychosurgery". Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. 10 (1): 79–92. doi:10.1076/jhin.10.1.79.5634. ISSN 0964-704X. PMID 11446267. S2CID 29727830. Whitaker, H.A.; Stemmer B.; Joanette Y. (1996). "A psychosurgical chapter in the history of cerebral localization: the six cases of Gottlieb Burkhardt". In Code, Christopher; Wallesch C.-W.; Joanette Y.; Roch A. (eds.). Classic Cases in Neuropsychology. Hove: Psychology Press. pp. 275–304. ISBN 978-0-86377-395-2.
  3. "Comments by Carl Skottsberg, President of the Royal Academy of Sciences (Sweden), Nobel Medicine Prize Banquet 1949". Retrieved 2009-12-02.