Minor, Lazar

Born Dec. 17 (29), 1855; died 1942. Soviet neuropathologist. Honored Scientific Worker of the RSFSR (1927).

In 1879, Minor graduated from the department of medicine of Moscow University and worked with A. I. Babukhin and A. Ia. Kozhevnikov. From 1910 to 1917 he was director of the clinic for nervous diseases at the Moscow Advanced Courses for Women, and from 1917 to 1932 director of the clinic for nervous diseases of the department of medicine of the Second Moscow State University (from 1930, the Second Moscow Medical Institute). Minor described the syndrome of cauda equina of the spinal cord and the special manner of rising from a sitting position seen in patients with sciatica (Minor’s sign). He also described a peculiar form of hereditary tremor (Minor’s idiopathic tremor). A number of Minor’s works were devoted to the histology of the nervous system.

As a physician and public figure, Minor made significant contributions to the control of alcoholism, including the founding of special treatment centers. He was an honorary member of many Soviet and foreign scientific societies. Minor created an important school of neuropathologists, among whom were V. V. Kramer, M. B. Krol’, L. G. Chlenov, and A. M. Grinshtein.