Louis Wolff
{{Short description|American cardiologist}}
{{about|the American cardiologist|the Wisconsin politician|Louis Wolf}}
Louis Wolff (April 14, 1898 – January 28, 1972) was an American cardiologist and college professor.{{cite journal |last1=Kurland |first1=G. S. |date=May 1989 |title=Louis Wolff: 1898-1972 |journal=Clinical Cardiology |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=301–302 |doi=10.1002/clc.4960120514 |s2cid=71948059 |doi-access=free}} He was the chief of the electrocardiographic laboratory at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from 1928 to 1964. In 1930, Wolff described the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome with John Parkinson and Paul Dudley White.{{cite web |date=January 30, 1972 |title=Dr. Louis Wolff, Professor And Noted Heart Specialist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/30/archives/dr-louis-wolff-professor-and-noted-heart-specialist.html |page=52 |newspaper=The New York Times}}
Early life
Wolfff was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1898. His parents immigrated to the United States from Lithuania but had previously lived in Peru and London. His childhood was spent in Revere, Massachusetts and South Boston, Massachusetts.{{Cite news |date=1972-01-29 |title=Dr. Louis Wolff, a pioneer in heart research |pages=25 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-dr-louis-wolff-a-pion/136157730/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |via=Newspapers.com}} He attended The English High School in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.
Wolff went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a degree in biology and public health in 1918. He played violin and conducted in a dance orchestra to pay for college. After graduation, he considered going to Europe to study music; because World War I, he remained in the United States and went to medical school.
He enrolled in Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1922. He completed an internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1922 to 1924
Career
Wolff continued to work at the Massachusetts General Hospital with Paul Dudley White, staying there from 1924 to 1928. Next, he worked at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston as the chief of the electrocardiographic laboratory, remaining in this position from 1928 until his retirement in 1964. In 1930, Wolffe described the eponymously named Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome with John Parkinson and Paul Dudley White. He also conducted pioneering work in vectorcardiography.
Wolfe was also a clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He published the textbook Electrocardiography in Fundamentals and Clinical Application in 1950. He served as president of the New England Cardiovascular Society.
Personal life
In 1920, Wolff married Alice Muscanto, a flute player born in Vilnius, Lithuania. She played with her sisters and brothers in Muscanto's Russian Orchestra, a touring musical ensemble founded by her father Leon Muscanto.{{Cite news |date=1913-02-20 |title=Muscanto's Orchestra |pages=8 |work=The Enterprise and Vermonter |location=Vergennes, Vermont |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-enterprise-and-vermonter-muscantos/136156194/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |via=Newspapers.com}} Louis and Alice had two children, Lea Wolff and Richard Wolff. They lived in Brookline, Massachusetts.
After Alice's death, Wolff married Phyllis Raftell; the daughter of Greek immigrants who had previously worked as Wolff's medical secretary.{{Cite news |date=2016-05-17 |title=Wolff, Phyllis (Raftell) |pages=B8 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-wolff-phyllis-raftell/136157386/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |via=Newspapers.com}} They had two children, Sarah Wolff and Charles Wolff.
Wolff died of Parkinson's disease in the Beth Israel Hospital on January 28, 1972. His funeral services were held in the Levine Chapel in Brookline. He was buried in Moses Mendelsohn Cemetery. Two of his children entered the medical field: Richard became a cardiologist and Charles became a physician.
Selected publications
- {{cite journal|first1=Louis|last1=Wolff|first2=John|last2=Parkinson|first3=Paul D.|last3=White|title=Bundle-Branch Block with Short P-R Interval in Healthy Young People Prone to Paroxysmal tachycardia|journal= Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology|volume=5|issue=6|date=August 1930|pages=685–705|pmid=17040283|doi=10.1111/j.1542-474X.2006.00127.x|pmc=6932258}}
- Wolff, Louis. Electrocardiography in Fundamentals and Clinical Application. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1950.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161795231/louis-wolff Find A Grave]
- [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Wolff+L&cauthor_id=17040283 PubMed Author Page]
- [http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/1010.html Who named it? - Louis Wolff]
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Category:American cardiologists
Category:Physicians from Boston
Category:Physicians from Brookline, Massachusetts
Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Category:Harvard Medical School alumni