Ádám Politzer (; 1 October 1835, Albertirsa, Pest, Hungary – 10 August 1920, in Vienna) was a Hungarian and Austrian physician and one of the pioneers and founders of otology. Life Ádám Politzer was born in Alberti (now part of Albertirsa), near the city of Budapest, to a well-to-do Jewish family. He studied medicine in the University of Vienna. Some of his teachers belonged to the Second "Vienna School", including Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky (1804–1878) and Josef Skoda (1805–1881) (its founders), as well as Joseph Hyrtl (1810–1894), Johann Ritter von Oppolzer (1808–1871), and the physiologist Carl Ludwig (1816–1895). The last two took interest in Politzer and were influential in his subsequent career. Politzer received his M.D. in 1859 and started to work in Carl Ludwig's laboratory. His interest since that time was mainly the physics of the auditory system. There, he was the first to demonstrate physiologically that the innervation of the tensor tympani muscle was by the trigeminal nerve and that the innervation of the stapedial muscle was by the facial nerve. In another series of experiments, Politzer connected two manometers, one placed in the external auditory canal meatus and another in the pharynx, in order to study air movements through the Eustachian tube. In 1861, he published his first results on a new technique based on this knowledge, to treat internal ear diseases by insufflating the middle ear through the Eustachian tube, which obviated the need of its catheterisation. This came to be known as politzerisation. In the subsequent decades, the technique was widely adopted throughout the world, bringing fame to Politzer. In the following year, Politzer travelled to other centers and countries, seeking to increase the depth of his practical training. Thus, he worked consecutively with Anton Friedrich Freiherr von Troeltsch (1829–1890) and physiologist Heinrich Müller, in Würzburg; Hermann Helmholtz (1821–1894) in Heidelberg. He also went to Paris, France, to study with Rudolf Körni, Prosper Ménière, the "father of physiology", Claude Bernard (1813–1878) and with physicist Karl Rudolf König (1832–1901). He also studied microscopic anatomy of the labyrinth with Albert von Kölliker (1817–1905) in Würzburg, and ear surgery with Joseph Toynbee (1815–1866) in London, England. Returning to Vienna in 1861, Politzer became a professor of otology at the University of Vienna with the support of von Oppolzer. Two years later, in 1863, he opened a private otological clinic with Josef Gruber (1827–1900), which soon began to attract