Georg Ledderhose

Who was Georg Ledderhose?

Dr. Georg Ledderhose was a German surgeon, December 15, 1855, Bockenheim, Regierungsbezirk Wiesbaden, Germany – February 1, 1925, Munich, Germany.

Ledderhose studied in Strasbourg under Georg Albert Lücke, receiving his medical doctorate in 1880 and later working in Strasbourg hospital as a surgeon. He became Professor for Surgery in Strasbourg in 1891. He later worked in Munich, where he became honorary professor.

In 1876, Ledderhose discovered glycosamine whilst working on cartilage with Ernst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler in Strassburg. Although first identified by him, the stereochemistry of the compound was not fully defined until 1939 by the work of Walter Haworth.

Ledderhose was the first to describe the condition of plantar fibromatosis in 1894, which was later known as Ledderhose's disease.