Most medical doctors have probably during their studies heard of the Magnus and De Kleijn reflexes' and may have been aware of their relation to posture. But they know little about their significance and nothing about the man who unravelled the complex physiology of these reflexes and about his work.

Rudolf Magnus lived from 1873 until 1927. His work on the physiology of posture was initiated during a short period of work with Sherrington in Liverpool in 1908. Though Magnus was also an authority in the field of pharmacology, it was particularly his neurophysical work on posture...