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Who was John Langdon Down?

START // Trisomy 21 // Who was John Langdon Down? //

Who was John Langdon Down?
When and where did he live?
What kind of a person was he?
And what does he have to do with Down syndrome?

Many people know only a little about John Langdon Down.
Most people only know: He was the first to write about Down syndrome.
And he wrote about "Mongolism".
In earlier times that was what Down syndrome was called.
That word is no longer used today.
And there are many misunderstandings about it.
Even today.

Few people know about John Langdon Down's life and his work.
That is the reason for this article.
So that more people can read something about him.
About his life.
And about his work.
About his ideas.

John Langdon Down's birth name was John Langdon Haydon Down.
John, Langdon, and Haydon were his first names.
Later he used the name Langdon as a part of his surname: John Langdon Down.

Where did John Langdon Down come from?
John Langdon Down was born on the 18th of November 1828.
In Torpoint.
This is a town in Cornwall.
In

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John Langdon Down: the man and the message

John Langdon Down was the son of a village grocer. Born in Torpoint, Cornwall, in 1828, he was the 6th child of religious parents. He worked in the family business until he was 18 years old and he then qualified as a pharmacist before ultimately entering medical school at the London Hospital. He won numerous medals and prizes and immediately after taking his medical degree he was appointed medical superintendent of the Royal Earlswood Asylum for Idiots in Surrey. He reformed the institution and his efforts at classification resulted in his description of what he called Mongolian idiocy. His findings were based on measurements of the diameters of the head and of the palate and on his series of clinical photographs. He was a pioneer of the use of photography in hospitals. Mongolian idiocy became a widely used term but in 1961 a group of genetic experts wrote to the Lancet suggesting four alternatives. The editor chose Down's syndrome. WHO endorsed this later. Langdon Down was a supporter of liberal causes. He made important contribution

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John Langdon Haydon Down

John Langdon Haydon Down was born in Torpoint, Cornwall. Down was his father’s Irish family name. His great-grandfather was the protestant bishop of Derry, whilst his mother’s family (Langdon) migrated from Cornwall to Devon 200 years earlier. Down was scientifically interested already whilst a schoolboy, but left school at the age of 13 ½ to assist his father who was a pharmacist. He was a member of the local scientific society and hoped for a future career in science.

At the age of 18 he moved to London, supporting himself as an assistant to a surgeon in private practice on White Chapel Road, where he had the opportunity to concern himself with blood-letting, tooth extraction etc.

A few months later, in 1847, he was allowed to commence work at the laboratory of The Pharmaceutical Society in Bloomsbury Square, London, where he made great progress and concentrated his efforts in organic chemistry. In 1849 he became assistant to professor Redwood and subsequently became research assistant to Michael Faraday (1791-1867) — chemist, physicist and one of