Georges Gilles de la Tourette described symptoms in 1984.
Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette ( 30 October 1857 -- 26 May 1904 ) was a French physician and the namesake of Tourette 's syndrome , a neurological condition characterized by physical and verbal tics . Tourette described the symptoms of Tourette 's syndrome in nine patients in 1884 , using the name `` maladie des tics '' . Gilles de la Tourette died on 26 May 1904 in a psychiatric hospital in Lausanne , Switzerland .