When German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer made the post-mortem discovery of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the early 1900s, he birthed the discovery of a cruel and insidious disorder.

More than a century ago, Alois Alzheimer noted unusual changes in brain fats, which he described as "lipoid granules," along with the buildup of amyloid-beta (amyloid) plaques and tau protein tangles.

Nature Milestones are editorially independent, produced with financial support from third parties. About this content. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 50 ...