Ferdinand Siegert

Ferdinand Siegert was a German pediatrician, born on 22 April 1865 in Neuwied am Rhein and died on 21 February 1946 in Köln. He received his medical doctorate from the University of Strassburg in 1889, then served as a secondary physician at Mödling near Vienna, worked as an assistant at the pathology institute in Geneva under Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn, and later as an assistant at the university children's clinic in Strassburg under Oswald Kohts. In Strassburg he founded an infant care institution and a nursing home for infants. In 1904 he became an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Halle, then moved to Munich as chair of pediatrics at the academy of practical medicine, and in 1919 became professor of pediatrics at the University of Cologne. His name is attached to Siegert's sign, the shortness and inward curvature of the terminal phalanges of the little fingers in Down syndrome. He is remembered for his work on infectious diseases, especially diphtheria, and for his interest in the inheritability of rickets and the nutritional needs of children. This entry records historical work, not medical advice.