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Otto Lowenstein

Otto Lowenstein (1889-1965) was a German psychologist who was a native of Osnabrück. In 1914 he received his medical degree from the University of Bonn, and after serving as military physician in World War I, returned to Bonn as a neuropsychiatric assistant to Alexander Westphal (1863-1941). While at Bonn he was involved in the fields of pediatric psychiatry and experimental psychology. In 1933 he moved to Switzerland to escape Nazi persecution, and worked as a neuropsychiatrist at the Clinique La Métairie in Nyon. In 1939 he emigrated to New York City where he was associated with New York University and later Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. In New York, he performed neuro-ophthalmological research in collaboration with Irene Loewenfeld.

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Lowenstein is remembered for his studies involving motion, size and functionality of the eye's pupil from a neuropsychiatric standpoint. In Germany and America, he created laboratories with specialized equipment dedicated to research of the eye's pupil. He was particularly interested in the status of an individuals' pupil during specific emotional and psychological states, as well as the condition of the pupil during periods of fatigue and alertness.

In 1957, with Irene Loewenfeld, he built an "electronic pupillograph" that incorporated infrared technology. This device was used to accurately measure and analyze the pupils' diameter, and was a forerunner to more sophisticated pupillographic instruments that were developed in later years. Lowenstein and Loewenfeld's pioneer experiments and numerous publications on pupillary topics were a major factor in bringing pupillography into American neuro-ophthalmological medicine.

Recently a psychiatric clinic for children called Das Professor Otto Löwenstein Haus was founded at the University of Bonn in Lowenstein's honor.