{{Short description|American cardiologist}} {{about|the American cardiologist|the Wisconsin politician|Louis Wolf}}
'''Louis Wolff''' (April 14, 1898 – January 28, 1972) was an American cardiologist and college professor.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Kurland |first1=G. S. |date=May 1989 |title=Louis Wolff: 1898-1972 |journal=Clinical Cardiology |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=301–302 |doi=10.1002/clc.4960120514 |s2cid=71948059 |doi-access=free}}</ref> He was the chief of the electrocardiographic laboratory at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from 1928 to 1964. In 1930, Wolff described the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome with John Parkinson and Paul Dudley White.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="nytobit">{{cite web |date=January 30, 1972 |title=Dr. Louis Wolff, Professor And Noted Heart Specialist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/30/archives/dr-louis-wolff-professor-and-noted-heart-specialist.html |page=52 |newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>
== Early life == Wolff was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1898.<ref name=":0" /> His parents immigrated to the United States from Lithuania but had previously lived in Peru and London.<ref name=":0" /> His childhood was spent in Revere, Massachusetts and South Boston, Massachusetts.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1972-01-29 |title=Dr. Louis Wolff, a pioneer in heart research |pages=25 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-dr-louis-wolff-a-pion/136157730/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> He attended The English High School in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.<ref name=":0" />
Wolff went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a degree in biology and public health in 1918.<ref name=":0" /> He played violin and conducted in a dance orchestra to pay for college.<ref name=":0" /> After graduation, he considered going to Europe to study music; because World War I, he remained in the United States and went to medical school.<ref name=":0" />
He enrolled in Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1922.<ref name=":0" /> He completed an internship at the Massachusetts General Hospital from 1922 to 1924<ref name=":0" />
== Career == Wolff continued to work at the Massachusetts General Hospital with Paul Dudley White, staying there from 1924 to 1928.<ref name=":0" /> Next, he worked at the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston as the chief of the electrocardiographic laboratory, remaining in this position from 1928 until his retirement in 1964.<ref name=":0" /> In 1930, Wolffe described the eponymously named Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome with John Parkinson and Paul Dudley White.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="nytobit" /> He also conducted pioneering work in vectorcardiography.<ref name=":1" />
Wolfe was also a clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.<ref name="nytobit" /><ref name=":1" /> He published the textbook ''Electrocardiography in Fundamentals and Clinical Application'' in 1950''.''<ref name=":0" /> He served as president of the New England Cardiovascular Society.<ref name="nytobit" />
== Personal life == In 1920, Wolff married Alice Muscanto, a flute player born in Vilnius, Lithuania. She played with her sisters and brothers in Muscanto's Russian Orchestra, a touring musical ensemble founded by her father Leon Muscanto.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1913-02-20 |title=Muscanto's Orchestra |pages=8 |work=The Enterprise and Vermonter |location=Vergennes, Vermont |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-enterprise-and-vermonter-muscantos/136156194/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Louis and Alice had two children, Lea Wolff and Richard Wolff.<ref name=":1" /> They lived in Brookline, Massachusetts.<ref name=":1" />
After Alice's death, Wolff married Phyllis Raftell; the daughter of Greek immigrants who had previously worked as Wolff's medical secretary.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=2016-05-17 |title=Wolff, Phyllis (Raftell) |pages=B8 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-wolff-phyllis-raftell/136157386/ |access-date=2023-12-02 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> They had two children, Sarah Wolff and Charles Wolff.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" />
Wolff died of Parkinson's disease in the Beth Israel Hospital on January 28, 1972.<ref name="nytobit" /><ref name=":0" /> His funeral services were held in the Levine Chapel in Brookline.<ref name=":1" /> He was buried in Moses Mendelsohn Cemetery. Two of his children entered the medical field: Richard became a cardiologist and Charles became a physician.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />
==Selected publications== *{{cite journal|first1=Louis|last1=Wolff|first2=John|last2=Parkinson|first3=Paul D.|last3=White|title=Bundle-Branch Block with Short P-R Interval in Healthy Young People Prone to Paroxysmal tachycardia|journal= Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology|volume=5|issue=6|date=August 1930|pages=685–705|pmid=17040283|doi=10.1111/j.1542-474X.2006.00127.x|pmc=6932258}} *Wolff, Louis. ''Electrocardiography in Fundamentals and Clinical Application''. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 1950.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161795231/louis-wolff Find A Grave] *[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Wolff+L&cauthor_id=17040283 PubMed Author Page] *[http://www.whonamedit.com/doctor.cfm/1010.html Who named it? - Louis Wolff]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolff, Louis}} Category:1898 births Category:1972 deaths Category:American cardiologists Category:Medical doctors from Boston Category:Medical doctors from Brookline, Massachusetts Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:Harvard Medical School alumni Category:20th-century American medical doctors Category:20th-century American Jews