11 Facts About Gaetano Perusini

Gaetano Perusini was the pupil and colleague of Alois Alzheimer and contributed to the definition of Alzheimer's disease.

Gaetano Perusini was born in Udine on February 24,1879 to a successful family of physicians.

Gaetano Perusini lost his father when he was only seven years old.

Gaetano Perusini began studying medicine at the University of Pisa and then went on to finish his training at the University of Rome.

Thanks to his time at professor Giovanni Mingazzini's laboratory, Gaetano Perusini gained a deep passion for mental illnesses and an interest in pathological anatomy, which led to his enthusiasm to discover the organic basis of mental illnesses.

Gaetano Perusini graduated with a degree in Medicine at the age of 22, defending a thesis on Criminal Anthropology written under the guidance of prof.

Gaetano Perusini believed that the neuro-pathological findings of the early onset cases did not differ from the senile ones, in fact in his discussion, he deliberately included the two senile cases.

Unfortunately, the description for miliary scleroses was attributed to Redlich in 1898 and Gaetano Perusini's work was overlooked at the time.

Unfortunately, due to technical limitations on staining, Gaetano Perusini was unable to draw precise conclusions regarding the correlation between senile plagues and neurofribillar alterations, and on the structure of neuroglia.

Gaetano Perusini eventually returned to Italy in 1911, and although his work was known all over Europe he was unable to find a suitable and stable academic position.

Gaetano Perusini was raised in a patriotic family which likely influenced his decision to enlist, albeit hiding his professional identity, into the army as a volunteer at the outbreak of the First World War.