Woldemar Kernig


Woldemar Kernig, better known as Vladimir Mikhailovich Kernig was a notable Russian and Baltic German internist and neurologist whose medical discoveries saved thousands of people with meningitis. He is best known for his pioneering work on diagnostics. Kernig's sign is named after him.

Kernig's sign

In Kernig's original 1882 publication, he wrote that in patients with meningitis who are seated upright with hips and knees flexed, extending the knee beyond 135 degrees would be painful. Today patients are put into a supine position instead of being seated upright.

Publications