Joseph Babinski

Son of Polish refugees from the 1848 revolution, Babinski graduated in medicine from the University of Paris in 1884, serving as Charcot's clinical chef de clinique at the Salpêtrière. In 1895, he became head of neurology at the Hôpital de la Pitié.

On February 22, 1896, in a succinct 26-line paper presented to the Société de Biologie, Babinski described the pathological extensor plantar reflex (dorsiflexion of the great toe with fanning of other toes when the sole is stroked), a diagnostic sign of upper motor neuron lesions used by every physician worldwide. He also helped pioneer neurosurgery with Thierry de Martel.