James Parkinson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
James Parkinson
FGS
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| Born | 11 April 1755 Shoreditch, London, England
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| Died | 21 December 1824 (aged 69) Shoreditch, London, England
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| Resting place | St Leonard's Church, Shoreditch |
| Alma mater | The London Hospital |
| Occupation |
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| Known for | First description of Parkinson's disease |
| Spouse(s) |
Mary Dale
(m. 1783) |
| Children | 8 |
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James Parkinson (April 11, 1755 – December 21, 1824) was an English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist. He is most famous for his 1817 work An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, in which he was the first to describe a condition that would later be named Parkinson's Disease after him.
Early life
James Parkinson was born in Shoreditch, London, England. He was the son of John Parkinson, an apothecary and surgeon practicing in Hoxton Square in London. In 1784 James Parkinson was approved by the Corporation of London as a surgeon.
On May 21, 1783, he married Mary Dale, with whom he subsequently had six children. Soon after he was married, James Parkinson succeeded his father in his practice in Hoxton Square.
Medicine
Between 1799 and 1807 he published a number of medical works, including a work on gout in 1805. He was also responsible for the earliest writings on the subject of peritonitis in English medical literature.
Parkinson was the first person to systematically describe 6 individuals with symptoms of the disease that bears his name. Unusually for such a description, he did not actually examine these patients himself but observed them on daily walks. It was Jean Martin Charcot who coined the term "Parkinson's Disease" over 60 years later.
Parkinson was also interested in improving the general health and well-being of the population. He was a crusader for legal protection for the mentally ill, as well as their doctors and families.
In 1812 Parkinson assisted his son with the first described case of appendicitis in English, and the first instance in which perforation was shown to be the cause of death.
Science
Parkinson's interest gradually turned from medicine to nature, specifically the relatively new field of geology, and paleontology. He began collecting specimens and drawings of fossils in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He took his children and friends on excursions to collect and observe fossil plants and animals. His attempts to learn more about fossil identification were hindered by a lack of available literature, and so he took the decision to improve matters by writing his own introduction to the study of fossils.
In 1804 the first volume of his Organic Remains of the Former World was published. Gideon Mantell praised it as "the first attempt to give a familiar and scientific account of fossils". A second volume was published in 1808, and a third in 1811. Parkinson illustrated each volume, sometimes in color.
Death and memorials
Parkinson died on 21 December 1824, after a stroke that interfered with his speech. He bequeathed his houses in Langthorne to his sons and wife, and his apothecary's shop to his son John. His collection of organic remains was given to his wife, and much of it was sold in 1827; a catalogue of the sale has never been found. He was buried at St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch.
Parkinson's life is commemorated with a stone tablet inside the church of St Leonard's, Shoreditch, where he was a member of the congregation; the exact site of his grave is not known and his body may lie in the crypt or in the churchyard. A blue plaque at 1 Hoxton Square marks the site of his home. Several fossils were named after him. No portrait of him is known. A photograph sometimes identified as an image of him is of a dentist of the same name; he died before the invention of photography.
World Parkinson's Day is held each year on his birthday, 11 April. In addition to the eponymous disease, Parkinson is commemorated in the names of several fossil organisms, including the ammonite Parkinsonia parkinsoni, the crinoid Apiocrinus parkinsoni, the snail Rostellaria parkinsoni, and the tree Nipa parkinsoni.
Images for kids
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Parkinson's home and office at 1 Hoxton Square
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First page of Parkinson's classical essay on shaking palsy
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Fossilized turtle Puppigerus found in the London Clay on the Isle of Sheppey and named for Parkinson, collection Teylers Museum
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See also
In Spanish: James Parkinson para niños
