Jean-Martin Charcot (; ; 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French
neurologist and professor of
anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology", and his name has been associated with at least 15 medical
eponyms, including
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and Charcot disease (better known as
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, motor neurone disease, or Lou Gehrig disease). Charcot has been referred to as "the father of French neurology and one of the world's pioneers of neurology". His work greatly influenced the developing fields of neurology and
psychology; modern psychiatry owes much to the work of Charcot and his direct followers. He was the "foremost neurologist of late nineteenth-century France" and has been called "the Napoleon of the
neuroses".