His main contribution to internal medicine was the introduction of the lumbar puncture for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

In 1865, Quincke worked with physiologist Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke at the University of Vienna, and in 1866, he became the assistant to the surgeon Robert Ferdinand Wilms.

He was an Assistenzarzt (subordinate physician) in internal medicine under Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs at the Charité in Berlin until 1870.

Quincke received an honorary doctorate (LL.D) from the University of Glasgow in June 1901.

[2] "Quincke's pulse", with redness and pallor seen under the fingernails, is one of the signs of aortic insufficiency.