Johannes Orth

In 1878 he became a professor at the University of Göttingen, and in 1902, following the death of Virchow, he returned to Berlin as director of the clinic of pathology.

Orth specialized in the pathological study of infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis and endocarditis.

In 1875, he documented an account involving an autopsy of a jaundiced infant with intense yellow staining of the basal ganglia, hippocampus, the third ventricle, as well as parts of the cerebellum.

In 1903, pathologist Christian Georg Schmorl (1861-1932) presented the results of 120 autopsies of jaundiced infants, with six of the cases having the staining phenomena described by Orth.

Schmorl coined the term "kernicterus" (jaundice of the basal ganglia) for the yellow staining phenomenon.