author
James Parkinson
1755–1824
Best remembered for identifying the condition later named Parkinson’s disease, this London surgeon and apothecary was also a keen geologist and fossil expert. His life joined careful medical observation with a wide curiosity about the natural world and the politics of his day.
1 Audiobook
An Essay on the Shaking Palsy
by James Parkinson
About the author
Born in London in 1755, James Parkinson trained in medicine and worked as a surgeon and apothecary in Hoxton. He became known for his sharp eye as a clinician, and in 1817 he published An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, the short but influential study that first clearly described the illness later called Parkinson’s disease.
Medicine was only one part of his life. Parkinson also wrote on geology and fossils, helped found the Geological Society of London, and built a reputation as a serious natural historian. That mix of practical medical work and scientific curiosity gives his writing an unusual range.
He was active in public affairs as well, writing on political and social questions during a turbulent period in Britain. Parkinson died in 1824, but his name has remained widely known because of the disease associated with his landmark medical essay.