Sir William Richard Gowers (1845–1915) and his eponym

Sir William Richard Gowers (1845–1915) made important contributions to the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the nervous system. In 1865, Gowers embarked on his undergraduate career as a medical student at University College Hospital. Gowers’ interest in diseases of the nervous system was probably due to the fact that some of his teachers and colleagues at University College Hospital, including John Russell Reynolds (1828–1896) and Henry Charlton Bastian (1837–1915) [1]. In 1870, he was appointed medical registrar to the National Hospital in Queen Square. In 1879, Gowers also wrote a seminal monograph on “Pseudo-hypertrophic muscular paralysis” (now known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy). Although he was not the first to describe the method utilized by children with Duchenne dystrophy to rise from the ground to a standing position, he provided clear illustrations of this phenomenon [2], which to this day is still frequently referred to as “Gowers’ sign” (Fig. 1). His textbook “A Manual of Diseases of the Nervous System”was the most monumental contribution to neurology and has rightfully been called the “bible” of neurology [3, 4]. His monographs and lectures were based almost entirely on his own clinical observations meticulously recorded in shorthand [5]. He described methods to evaluate muscular strength, coordination, sensory perception, tone, tremor, reflexes and actions of individual muscles, and functions of cranial nerves. In his last years of life, Gowers devoted himself to teaching, writing, and practicing neurology. At the age of 62 he was forced into retirement, feebled by “generalized cerebrovascular degeneration.”Gowers survived with his wife Mary by just 2 years and died on 4 May 1915. His funeral took place at St Peter’s Church, Vere Street, in Kensington [6].