Henri Gastaut

Henri Jean Pascal Gastaut (April 15, 1915, Monaco – July 14, 1995 Marseille) was a French neurologist and epileptologist. Gastaut was educated in medicine at the University of Marseille, obtaining his medical doctorate in 1945. Thereafter he trained in neurology with Henri Roger and in neuroanatomy with Lucien Cornil in Marseille. In 1953 he became head of the neurobiological laboratories at the Marseille Hospital. In 1954 he succeeded Cornil as professor of anatomical pathology and in 1960 he was appointed as director of the regional centre for epileptic children. In 1973 a chair of clinical neurophysiology was created for him, a tenure he held until his retirement in 1984. His major interests involved research of electroencephalography and brain functionality in epilepsy. In 1957 he described the hemiconvulsion-hemiplegia-epilepsy(HHE) syndrome, in 1961 and 1966 the Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and in 1981 and 1982 the late variant of the benign childhood epilepsy with occipital paroxysms. After the second world war he was influential in reactivating the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE). After serving as president elect from 1953 to 1957, he was secretary general from 1957 to 1969 of the ILAE, before being elected as its president from 1969 to 1973 and being past president from 1973 to 1977. In addition he was Chairman of the Commission on Terminology of the ILAE in 1963 which resulted in the publication of a Dictionary of Epilepsy. He attempted to understand possible ties between epilepsy and artistic genius in individuals such as Fedor Dostoyevski, Gustave Flaubert, and Vincent van Gogh, and published a number of papers about this relationship. In 1967 he was elected dean of the University of Marseille School of Medicine. Among others, Gastaut was awarded as "Ambassador for Epilepsy" by the ILAE and International Bureau for Epilepsy in 1968 and with the Lennox Award of the American Epilepsy Society (AES) in 1977. Gastaut H. The Epilepsies. Electro-Clinical Correlations. Springfield, Illinois, C. C.