Richard Cassirer (April 23, 1868 – August 20, 1925) was a German neurologist who was born in Breslau. After receiving his medical doctorate in 1891 he became assistant at the psychiatric clinic in Breslau under Karl Wernicke (1848-1905). In 1893 he went to Vienna and continued his studies under Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) and Heinrich Obersteiner (1847-1922). Later he became professor of neurology at the University of Berlin, where he worked closely with Hermann Oppenheim (1858-1919).
As a clinical neurologist, Cassirer specialized on the anatomy of the central nervous system and made contributions in his research of multiple sclerosis, encephalitis and poliomyelitis. Among his written works was a new edition (1923) of Oppenheim's Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten für Ärzte und Studierende.[1]
In 1912 he first described a circulatory disease marked by an association of ovarian insufficiency and acrocyanosis with vasomotor-trophic disturbance of the skin, and disturbances of sensitivity caused by dysregulation of the vegetative nervous system which has been given the eponymic name of Cassirer's syndrome or Crocq-Cassirer syndrome.[2]
In 1921, Dr. Cassirer was asked to give testimony regarding the mental condition of Soghomon Tehlirian, who was accused of murdering Talaat Pasha. Cassirer maintained that Tehlirian was not sane when he carried out the crime because of his psychotic state caused as a result of his family being victims of a war-time massacre. Also Cassirer's portrait was painted by renowned artist Max Liebermann in 1918, and later presented to the Tate Gallery in London.