Human Anatomical Parts Named After People

An eponym is the name of a person, place or thing (real or fictitious) after which another person, place or thing is named. Many parts of the human anatomy have been named after the person or persons who discovered them or published the first scientific work about them.

The following is a partial list of eponymous human anatomical parts and the people they were named after. Additions will be made as new eponymous names are found!


(NOTE: For clarity, entries are listed by the name of the person associated with them, so Loop of Henle is listed under H not L.)


A

Achilles tendon - Achilles, Greek mythological character
Adam's apple - Adam, Biblical character
Alcock's canal (pudendal canal) - Sir Rutherford Alcock
Artery of Adamkiewicz - Albert Wojciech Adamkiewic

B

Bachmann's bundle - Jean George Bachmann
Bartholin's gland - Caspar Bartholin the Younger
Batson's plexus - Oscar Vivian Batson
Long thoracic nerve of Bell - Sir Charles Bell
Duct of Bellini - Lorenzo Bellini
Renal columns of Bertin - Exupere Joseph Bertin
Betz cells - Vladimir Alekseyevich Betz
Billroth's cords - Theodor Billroth
Bowman's capsule and Bowman's membrane - Sir William Bowman
Broca's area - Paul Broca
Brodmann's areas - Korbinian Brodmann
Brunner's glands - Johann Conrad Brunner
Buck's fascia - Gurdon Buck

C

Cajal cell - Santiago Ramón y Cajal
Cajal-Retzius cell - Santiago Ramón y Cajal and Gustaf Retzius
Calot's triangle - Jean-François Calot
Castle intrinsic factor - William Bosworth Castle
Charcot-Bouchard aneurysms - Jean-Martin Charcot and Charles-Joseph Bouchard
Chassaignac tubercle - Charles Marie Édouard Chassaignac
Circle of Willis (arterial circle in base of brain) - Dr. Thomas Willis
Christmas factor - Stephen Christmas
Clara cell - Max Clara
Colles' fascia - Abraham Colles
Cooper's fascia - Astley Cooper
Cooper's iliopectineal ligament - Astley Cooper
Cooper's suspensory ligaments - Astley Cooper
Organ of Corti - Alfonso Corti
Cowper's glands - William Cowper
Cuvier ducts - Georges Cuvier
Chiari malformation - Hans Chiari

D

Darwin's tubercle - Charles Darwin
Campbell de Morgan spots - Campbell De Morgan
Denonvilliers' fascia - Charles-Pierre Denonvilliers
Descemet's membrane - Jean Descemet
Space of Disse - Joseph Disse
Pouch of Douglas - James Douglas

E

Von Ebner's glands - Victor von Ebner
Edinger-Westphal nucleus - Ludwig Edinger and Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal
Eustachian tube - Bartolomeo Eustachi

F

Fallopian tube - Gabriele Falloppio

G

Gallaudet's fascia - B.B. Gallaudet
Gartner's duct - Hermann Gartner
Gerdy's Fibers - Pierre Nicolas Gerdy
Gerota Capsule - Dumitru Gerota
Glisson's capsule - Francis Glisson
Golgi apparatus and Golgi receptor - Camillo Golgi
Graafian follicle – Regnier de Graaf
Gräfenberg spot (G-spot) - Ernst Gräfenberg
Grafstein's Growth (Bernice's Bulge) - Neuroscientist Bernice Grafstein, an ancient physician
Great vein of Galen - Galen, an ancient Greek physician

H

Hasner's Fold - Joseph Hasner
Haversian canal - Clopton Havers
Spiral valves of Heister - Lorenz Heister
Loop of Henle - F. G. J. Henle
Canals of Hering - Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering
Hering's nerve - Heinrich Ewald Hering
Herring bodies - Percy Theodore Herring
Heschl's gyri - Richard L. Heschl
Hesselbach's triangle - Franz Kaspar Hesselbach
Antrum of Highmore - Nathaniel Highmore
Bundle of His - Wilhelm His, Jr.
Scrotal Raphe of Holzer - Remington Double Duke Holzer III
Houston's muscle - John Houston
Howell-Jolly bodies - William Henry Howell, Justin Marie Jolly
Canal of Huguier - Pierre Charles Huguier
Hurthle cell - Karl Hürthle

K

Kerckring's valves - Theodor Kerckring
Kernohan notch - James Watson Kernohan
Kiesselbach's plexus - Wilhelm Kiesselbach
Pores of Kohn - Hans Kohn
Krause's end-bulbs - Wilhelm Krause
Kupffer cells - Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer

L

Canals of Lambert - Margaret Waugh Lambert
Langer's lines - Karl Langer
Islets of Langerhans and Langerhans cell - Paul Langerhans
Langhans giant cell - Theodor Langhans
Leydig Cells - Franz Leydig
Crypts of Lieberkühn - Johann Nathanael Lieberkühn
Lissauer's tract - Heinrich Lissauer
Urethral glands of Littré - Alexis Littré
Lockwood's ligament - Charles Barrett Lockwood
Angle of Louis - Antoine Louis
Lovibond's angle - J.L. Lovibond, 20th-century English dermatologist
Lund's node - Fred Bates Lund
Crypts of Luschka, Ducts of Luschka, Foramina of Luschka, and Luschka's joints - Hubert von Luschka

M

Macewen's triangle - Sir William Macewen
Foramen of Magendie - François Magendie
McBurney's point - Charles McBurney
Malpighian corpuscle - Marcello Malpighi
Meckel's cartilage and Meckel's diverticulum - Johann Friedrich Meckel
Anal Crypts of Meera - Meera Shah
Meibomian glands - Heinrich Meibom
Meissner's corpuscle and Meissner's plexus - Georg Meissner
Merkel cell - Friedrich Sigmund Merkel
Meyer's loop - Adolf Meyer
Paraclitoral Recess of Mulvey - Joseph Mulvey
Möll's gland and Space of Möll - Jacob A. Möll
Foramina of Monro - Alexander Monro
Glands of Montgomery - William Fetherstone Montgomery
Hydatids of Morgagni, and Lacunae of Morgagni - Giovanni Battista Morgagni
Morison's pouch - James Rutherford Morison
Müllerian ducts - Johannes Peter Müller
Mahdi Nerve - Dr. Mahdi Hasan

N

Nissl bodies or granules and Nissl substance - Franz Nissl

O

Sphincter of Oddi - Ruggero Oddi
Nucleus of Onufrowicz - Bronislaw Onuf-Onufrowicz

P

Pacinian corpuscles - Filippo Pacini
Paneth cells - Joseph Paneth
Papez circuit - James Papez
Peyer's patches - Johann Conrad Peyer
Poupart's ligament - François Poupart
Prussak's space - Alexander Prussak
Purkinje cells - Jan E. Purkinje

R

Node of Ranvier - Louis-Antoine Ranvier
Rathke's pouch - Martin Heinrich Rathke
Reichert cartilage - Karl Bogislaus Reichert
Renshaw cells - B. Renshaw
Space of Retzius and Veins of Retzius - Anders Retzius
Riedel's lobe - Bernhard Moritz Carl-Ludwig Riedel
Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses - Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky and Ludwig Aschoff
Rolandic fissure and fissure of Rolando - Luigi Rolando
Rotter's lymph nodes - Josef Rotter
Ruffini's corpuscles - Angelo Ruffini
Russ's moustache (Russtache) - Jeffrey Russ
Rutherford Morrison's subhepatic space - Rutherford Morrison

S

Duct of Santorini - Giovanni Domenico Santorini
Schatzki's ring - Richard Schatzki
Canal of Schlemm - Friedrich Schlemm
Sertoli cell - Enrico Sertoli
Sharpey's fibres - William Sharpey
Shrapnell's membrane - Henry Jones Shrapnell
Sideburns - General Ambrose Burnside (for his distinctive whiskers)
Skene's gland - Alexander Skene
Spigelian fascia - Adriaan van den Spiegel
Stensen's duct - Niels Stensen
Sylvian aqueduct - Franciscus Sylvius

T

Thorel's pathway - Carl Thorel (1859-1938)
White lines of Toldt - Carl Toldt
Torcular herophili - Herophilus
Traube's space - Ludwig Traube
Ligament of Trietz - Václav Treitz

V

Sinus of Valsalva - Antonio Maria Valsalva
Ampulla of Vater - Abraham Vater
Virchow-Robin spaces - Rudolf Virchow and Charles-Philippe Robin
Virchow's node - Rudolf Virchow

W

Waldeyer's throat - Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz
Weibel-Palade body - Ewald R. Weibel – George Emil Palade Weibel-Palade body
Wenckebach's bundle - Karel Frederik Wenckebach
Wernicke's area - Karl Wernicke
Wharton's duct and Wharton's jelly - Thomas Wharton
Circle of Willis - Thomas Willis
Foramen of Winslow - Jean-Jacques Bénigne Winslow
Duct of Wirsung - Johann Georg Wirsung
Wolffian duct - Kaspar Friedrich Wolff
Wormian bones - Ole Worm

Z

Zonule of Zinn - Johann Gottfried Zinn


Sources:
Dartmouth: Glossary of Eponyms
Who Named It? A Dictionary of Medical Eponyms
Wikipedia


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