On Jul. 15, 1910, the term Alzheimer’s disease was first used by German psychiatrist Dr. Emil Kraepelin to describe a progressive form of presenile dementia in his Handbook of Psychiatry. Dr. Kraepelin credited the work of his colleague Dr. Alois Alzheimer in identifying the disease.

One of the most important achievements of Kraepelin was the connection of pathogenesis and manifestation of psychiatric disorders. Clinical observation led him to the hypothesis that specific combinations of symptoms in relation to the course of psychiatric illnesses allow one to identify a particular mental disorder. Today his concept of endogenous psychosis is regarded as Kraepelin’s main achievement.