| Moritz Benedikt | |
| Birth Date: | 4 July 1835 |
| Birth Place: | Eisenstadt, Sopron County, Kingdom of Hungary |
| Death Place: | Vienna, Austria |
| Occupation: | Neurologist |
| Known For: | controversial research in criminal anthropology |
| Profession: | Physician, Professor |
| Work Institutions: | University of Vienna |
| Specialism: | electrotherapeutics and neuropathology |
Moritz Benedikt also spelt Moriz (4 July 1835, in Eisenstadt, Sopron County – 14 April 1920, in Vienna) was a neurologist who worked in Austria-Hungary.
He was born in Eisenstadt in Hungary. He got his medical education in Vienna, where he studied under Hyrtl, Briicke, Skoda, Oppolzer, Rokitansky and other well-known teachers, and qualified in 1859.
He was an instructor and professor of neurology at the University of Vienna. Benedikt was a physician with the Austrian army during the Second Italian War of Independence (1859) and the Austro-Prussian War.
Benedikt was a specialist in the fields of electrotherapeutics and neuropathology. His name is lent to the eponymous "Benedikt's syndrome", a disease characterized by ipsilateral oculomotor paralysis with contralateral tremor and hemiparesis caused by a lesion involving the red nucleus and corticospinal tract in the midbrain tegmentum.
Benedikt is remembered today for his controversial research in criminal anthropology. He performed numerous cephalometric studies, and postulated that there were specific differences between "normal" and "criminal brains". He explained his research on the subject in a book titled "Anatomical Studies upon the Brains of Criminals" (title of English translation).
Benedikt is credited for coining the word "darsonvalisation" to describe therapeutic or experimental applications of pulsed high frequency (110–400 kHz) high voltage (around 10–20 kV) current of a few mA.[1]
Benedikt also took an interest in dowsing (radiesthesia), writing two books on this subject Leitfaden der Rutenlehre (eng. Guideline to use of Divining Rods) and Ruten- und Pendellehre (eng. Instructions in Diving Rods and Pendulums)