Heinrich von Bamberger

Heinrich von Bamberger (December 27, 1822, Zwornarka, Kingdom of Bohemia – November 9, 1888, Vienna) was an Austrian pathologist. He was father to internist Eugen von Bamberger (1858-1921).

In 1847 he earned his doctorate from the University of Prague, and from 1851 to 1854 was a clinical assistant to Johann von Oppolzer (1808-1871) in Vienna. In 1854 he became professor of therapeutic pathology at the University of Würzburg, returning to the University of Vienna in 1872, where he succeeded Oppolzer as professor of special pathology and therapy. Among his assistants in Vienna was internist Edmund von Neusser (1852-1912).

Bust of Bamberger in the Arkadenhof of the University of Vienna

Bamberger was a specialist in respiratory and circulatory pathology, remembered for his research involving diseases of the pericardium, heart tissues, and the larger vessels. He provided early descriptions of hematogenous albuminuria, uremic pericarditis and progressive polyserositis. The eponymous "Bamberger's disease" is named after him, characterized by spasmodic affections of the leg muscles.

In 1857 he published Lehrbuch der Krankheiten des Herzens (Handbook of diseases of the heart), one of the first textbooks dedicated to cardiac pathology. Another of his publications of note was Die Krankheiten des chylopoetischen Systems (On the diseases of the chylopoietic system, 1855).