Modern study of the functions of the thalamus began with the important investigations of Gudden. He is remembered eponymically by “Gudden’s commissure” and “Gudden’s atrophy” – specific thalamic nuclei degenerate when certain areas of the cerebral cortex are destroyed. His collected works were published in 1889. He was drowned in a lake at Starnberg by his patient Ludwig II, the mad king of Bavaria.