Winfried Robert Clemens Brachmann was a German physician who was born on 6th February, 1888 in Dresden, Germany. Walther Johann Brachmann was his father and Maria Clementine Brachmann was his mother. He was married to Agnes Helene Heilmann on September 16th, 1916 at Göttingen. He was the father of three children named Heilwig Brachmann (born in 1917), Ernst Gerhart Brachmann (born in 1919) and Agnes Brachmann (born in 1921). Winfried Robert Clemens Brachmann died in the year 1969 at the age of eighty one. He is remembered in medical history as the identifier of a special type of genetic disability in children, known as the Brachman de Lange syndrome.
By profession he was a doctor of medicine. He was qualified in medicine in the year 1913 and obtained an appointment as the clinical assistant at the Children's hospital in his home town. While working at this hospital in the year 1916, he observed a 19 day old child, who died of pneumonia and wrote a detailed report on the case. His report consisted of several characteristic of the disease which had not been mentioned before in the history of paediatric medicine.
The First World War started in 1914 and by the year 1916 it was in full rage. During this period Winfried Robert Clemens Brachmann was called up for attending the military duty in the war. He had to stop his medical study to join the war. He suffered a blight wound and was stationed in Rasenmühle near Göttingen. He was so badly injured that after many years after the war shell splinters used to come out from his wounds. He desired to visit the German colonies in Africa. But unfortunately, Germany had lost all its colonies during the First World War and Brachmann's desire could not be fulfilled. During the post war period, Brachmann used to ride his bicycle around the Göttingen area. During this time, he found out that a physician in Gross Schneen was dead. He wanted to take up the place of the dead physician in order to treat sick people. So, he decided to shift there with his family. He moved up to Gross Schneen in 1918. During this period, Germany was going through very hard time. The Germans were suffering from hunger and hardships. Winfried Robert Clemens Brachmann stood strongly beside the suffering people of his country. He had brought his horse driven coach from the war and used the vehicle to travel from village to village with the motto of treating sick people.
Brachman de Lange syndrome is a genetic disorder that is known to cause severe developmental anomalies. Both the physical and intellectual development of the child is affected by this syndrome. Craniofacial and skeletal deformities along with gastrointestinal and cardiac malfunctions are some of the basic characteristics of this syndrome. It is pretty rare and is estimated to affect one out of 10,000 new born babies. The diagnosis of the syndrome is made on the basis of specific facial appearance along with pre and post natal retardation of growth and skeletal abnormalities.