Who invented Huntington's disease?

Answer 1

No one "invented" Huntington's Disease. It is a naturally occurring genetic disease that was recognized as a disease by a number of persons.

The first recorded mention of this disease was made in 1842, in a letter written by Charles Oscar Waters and published in Practice of Medicine. In 1846, Charles Gorman noted that the disease seemed to occur in particular regions. In 1860, Johan Christian Lund also gave a description of the disease, in which he noted that dementia along with jerking movement disorders seemed to be particularly prevalent in a secluded area of Setesdalen in Norway.

In 1872, George Huntington gave the first complete description of the disease based on his studies of several generations of one family who exhibited similar symptoms. Huntington outlined the pattern of autosomal dominant inheritance.

Sir William Osler, who was interested in chorea and other movement disorders at the time, was impressed by Huntington's description of the condition. Osler's interest in the disease combined with his influence in the medical field helped awareness of Huntington's disease to grow and by the end of the 19th century, reports on the condition had been published across many countries, with the illness gaining worldwide acknowledgement as a medical condition.