Freudenthal, walter

(¤ 1893, † 1952) Dermatologist, active in Breslau, London. Field(s) of research: Histology.

Walter Freudenthal was born on May 6, 1893, in Breslau, Silesia, into a Jewish family of physicians. In 1913 he began medical studies in Geneva, but these were interrupted by the First World War. In 1919 he returned to Breslau, resumed his medical studies, and graduated from the clinic of Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Breslau), where he received his doctorate in 1922 under Josef Jadassohn. In 1929 he was appointed as a private lecturer.

Walter Freudenthal collaborated with other well-known names in the field of dermatology such as W. N. Goldsmith, Max Jessner and Rudolph L. Mayer. He was in charge of the histopathology laboratory and the men's department in the outpatient clinic as a private lecturer. Freudentahl lectured on sexually transmitted diseases, dermatohistopathology, and related topics.

He wrote his most important papers in Breslau. He described keratoma senile(actinic keratosis), and distinguished it from verruca senilis(seborrheic keratosis).

To escape the Nazi regime, he moved to London in 1933. He was able to continue his work as a dermatopathologist at University College Hospital (UCH) in London. Freudenthal coined the term keratoacanthoma in the 1940s. Freudenthal worked with dermatologist Geoffey Dowling on the link between dermatomyositis and scleroderma and was later appointed the first lecturer in dermatologic histology by the University of London.

Freudenthal wrote numerous papers on his histopathological findings as well as chapters in textbooks of dermatology.

Like many other Jewish physicians at his university, his teaching license was revoked after the Nazis came to power in 1933, whereupon he left for England. Upon his arrival in London, he was asked to recertify in order to practice medicine. He decided against it and instead took up studies in dermatohistopathology at University College Hospital (UCH) in London with the help of Sir Archibald Gray, who had already recruited Freudenthal's old friend from Breslau W. N. Goldsmith. Freudenthal published on numerous skin diseases, including amyloidosis, glomus tumor, mucin in granuloma anulare, and Kaposi's sarcoma. Freudenthal coined the term "keratoacanthoma," which was adopted by dermatologist Arthur Rook and pathologist Ian Whimster in 1950.

Freudenthal died young at 58 on March 27, 1952.

1. Freudenthal W (1930) Amyloid in the skin Archiv für Dermatologie und Syphilis 162: 40-94.
2. Königstein H (1925) On amyloidosis of the skin. Archives of Dermatology and Syphilis 148: 330-383.