Paul Kern (insomniac)

Paul Kern (Hungarian: Kern Pál, 1884 - 1943 died at the age of 59) was a Hungarian soldier during World War I.[1][2] On June 24, 1915, he was shot in the head by a Russian soldier during an attack on the village of Chlebovice in Galicia.[3] The bullet removed part of his frontal lobe. Rather than killing him, this made him unable to sleep.[4]

Kern in 1930

After being shot in the head by a Russian soldier and losing part of his frontal lobe, he was taken to Lemberg Hospital. After waking up at Lemberg, he never slept again.[5] Ernst Frey, a professor of mental and nervous diseases at the Eötvös Loránd University, treated Kern but was unable to find a cause for this abnormality.[6]

After having been injured and leaving the army, Kern moved to Budapest. While there, he worked daily in the Pensions Department.[7]

References
  1. "Sleepless for 15 years. Curious effect of war-wound". The West Australian. 14 January 1930. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  2. "L'homme qui n'a pas dormi depuis 22 ans" (PDF). L'Express du midi (in French). 30 December 1937. p. 2. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  3. "Unique Case of the Man Who Hasn't Slept for 15 Years". The Cumberland Evening Times. 11 April 1930. p. 25. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  4. "Sleepless man still a puzzle". The Milwaukee Sentinel. 25 September 1938. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  5. "Doctor Baffled. Man who never sleeps. Going 24 hours". Chronicle. 16 January 1930. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  6. "No sleep for 15 years. Night club life. Astonishing case of a wounded officer". The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser. 14 February 1930. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  7. "Adelaide doctor thinks man could go without sleep for 15 years". The Register News-Pictorial. 15 January 1930. Retrieved 3 September 2013.

See also


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