In 1919, Konstantin Tretiakoff first used the term ‘corps de Lewy’ (Lewy bodies) and reported the presence of these bodies in the SNc of patients with idiopathic and post-encephalitic Parkinsonism.

Fritz Heinrich Jakob Lewy described, for the first time, in 1912, novel peculiar inclusions in neurons of certain brain nuclei in patients with Paralysis agitans, and compared his finding to the amyloid bodies described by Lafora one year before.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Trétiakoff named the inclusions he found in neurons of the substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson’s disease as corps de Lewy (Lewy bodies), in 1919. Trétiakoff has unanimously received the credit for the eponym. However, Lafora’s earlier description should make him deserving of the authorship of the eponym.