Education
He studied medicine at the University of Utrecht, and trained as pathologist in Amsterdam.
He studied medicine at the University of Utrecht, and trained as pathologist in Amsterdam.
He characterized the condition now known as Glycogen storage disease type II in 1932. lieutenant is sometimes referred to by his name. During this time he came across the symptoms of what is now known as domestic Pompe disease, or Glycogen storage disease type II, which he described in his 1932 publication Over idiopathische hypertrophie van het hart (English: About idiopathic hypertrophy of the heart).
On December 27, 1930, Doctor Pompe had carried out an autopsy on a 7-month old girl who had died of unknown causes.
He found the enlarged heart now known to be characteristic of the infantile form of the disease and had some microscope slides prepared. These showed that the muscle tissue was distorted into an pentagonal mesh.
He was executed by the Nazis in 1945 because of espionage.