WORLD PARKINSON'S DAY: DR. JAMES PARKINSON'S AND THE TULIP

Dr James Parkinson (1755 – 1824)

Born 11 April 1755, James Parkinson is most famous for his essay ‘An Essay on the Shaking Palsy’ in 1817 which first recognised Parkinson’s as a medical condition.

Dr. Parkinson was an English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, palaeontologist, and political activist. He is most famous for his 1817 work, An Essay on the Shaking Palsy^[3] in which he was the first to describe "paralysis agitans", a condition that would later be renamed Parkinson's disease by Jean-Martin Charcot

Did you know that the tulip became the international symbol of Parkinson’s disease in 1980 when a horticulturalist named a tulip after Dr. James Parkinson? 

The story of the Parkinson Tulip began in 1980 in the Netherlands when J.W.S. Van der Wereld, a Dutch horticulturalist, with Parkinson's disease (PD), developed a red and white tulip, which he named the 'Dr. James Parkinson' tulip, to honor Dr. James Parkinson, an English apothecary surgeon who originally described PD in 1812.

The Tulip Red, at that. Unlike the red rose, the red tulip doesn’t merely symbolize love, but is also a symbol adopted by the Parkinson’s community worldwide to bring awareness to Parkinsons disease.

On April 11, 2005, the red tulip with a fringe of white was launched as the official symbol of PD at the 9th World Parkinson’s disease Day Conference in Luxembourg (even though the red tulip had been associated with Parkinson’s awareness since the early 1980’s).

The tulip is described in detail as the exterior being a “glowing cardinal red, small feathered white edge, the outer base whitish; the inside, a currant-red to turkey-red, broad feathered white edge, anthers pale yellow”.

Developed by Dutch horticulturist and Parkinson’s disease patient J.W.S. Van der Wereld, the new tulip was named after Dr. James Parkinson, the doctor who discovered Parkinson’s disease. Not only did the tulip receive the Award of Merit that year from the Royal Horticultural Society in England, but it also was the recipient of the Trial Garden Award from the Royal General Bulb Growers of Holland.

The tulip design for the NINDS Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Program captures the red and white tulip enfolded by leaves in the shape of hands that symbolize the overarching goal of the PDBP initiative in bringing together the PD community to build resources and develop technologies that will lead to PD biomarker discovery and innovation.

The European Parkinson’s Disease Association chose this tulip as the symbol for its logo in 1996.

This stylized red tulip, with its distinctive leaves shaped like the letters "P" and "D", was designed by early-onset Parkinson's patient Karen Painter. Karen and her friend, Jean Burns, are behind the movement for it to become the nationally recognized symbol for Parkinson's Disease Awareness.  The PD Tulip has inspired a grassroots movement combining efforts  and resources to help find a cure in our lifetimes.