Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen

Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen (December 2, 1833, Gütersloh, Westfalen - August 26, 1910, Strasbourg) was a German pathologist who practiced medicine in Würzburg (1866-1872) and Strasbourg (1872-1906). He was the father of physiologist Heinrich von Recklinghausen (1867-1942).

In 1882 he released a monograph which reviewed previous literature and characterized the tumors of Neurofibromatosis type 1 or NF-1 as neurofibromas, consisting of an intense commingling of nerve cells and fibrous tissue. NF-1 is sometimes referred to as von Recklinghausen syndrome.

In 1889 Recklinghausen coined the term haemochromatosis, and was the first to provide the link between haemochromatosis and iron accumulation in body tissue. This disease was initially described in 1865 by Armand Trousseau. Recklinghausen published his findings in Hämochromatose, Tageblatt der Naturforschenden Versammlung. He also established a method of staining the lines of cell junctions with silver, a procedure that led to Julius Friedrich Cohnheim’s research on leukocyte migration and inflammation.