Edward Alfred Cockayne (1880-1956} was an English physician specializing in pediatrics. He spent most of his medical career at the Hospital for Sick Children in London. Pediatrics (also spelled paediatrics) is the branch of medicine that deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents (from newborn to age 16-21, depending on the country). ... Atrium of the Hospital for Sick Children. ...

Cockayne was particularly interested in endocrinology, and rare, genetic diseases of children. In 1946 he recognized a disease that would be named after him, called Cockayne's syndrome. This is a rare multisystem disorder characterized by dwarfism, pigmentary retinopathy, impaired nervous system development, and facial abnormalities. This disease has since been divided into three subtypes: Endocrinology is a branch of medicine dealing with disorders of the endocrine system and its specific secretions called hormones. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Cockayne syndrome. ... Dwarfism is typically a pathological condition in which the physical size of a person, animal, or plant is well below normal. ... Retinopathy is a general term that refers to some form of non-inflammatory damage to the retina of the eye. ... The nervous system of an animal coordinates the activity of the muscles, monitors the organs, constructs and also stops input from the senses, and initiates actions. ...

• Cockayne syndrome I, or Classic Cockayne Syndrome: in which facial and somatic abnormalities develop during childhood. Due to progressive neurological degeneration, death occurs in the second or third decade.
• Cockayne syndrome II, or Severe Cockayne Syndrome: in which facial and somatic abnormalities are present at birth. Death usually results by the age of seven.
• Cockayne syndrome III: milder than Cockayne I & II, and its onset happens later than the other two types.

In 1933 he published the "Inherited Abnormalities of the Skin and its Appendages". This was the first book that dealt exclusively with genodermatoses (inherited skin disorders).

Besides his medical work, Cockayne was an entomologist. He amassed a large collection of butterflies and moths, which in 1947 was donated to the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum at Tring, Hertfordshire. In 1943 he became president of the Royal Society of Entomology. Entomology is the scientific study of insects. ... The Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum was once the private museum of Lionel Walter, 2nd Baron Rothschild, and is located in the grounds of the former Rothschild family home of Tring Park, Tring, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. ... Map sources for Tring at grid reference SP924117 Tring is a small market town in the Chiltern Hills in Hertfordshire, England with a population of 13,000. ... Hertfordshire (pronounced Hartfordshire and abbreviated as Herts) is an inland county in the United Kingdom and part of the East of England Government Office region. ...

Additional information on Cockayne's Syndrome