Franz Kallmann was an American scientist who published a paper in 1944 about the cases of 3 families who all had members who failed to enter puberty and had no sense of smell. He was the first person to propose that this was a genetic condition and it was named after him.

The first mention of the condition came in 1856 when a paper was published by Aureliano Maestre de San Juan highlighted an autopsy report on a patient with undeveloped sex organs and absent olfactory lobes (the part of the brain concerned with sense of smell). In Spanish speaking parts of the world the condition is still called after him.

In 1954 de Morsier published a paper on 14 cases of anosmia (lack of sense of smell) and absent puberty and proved the neuro-pathological basis of the condition.

This has led to a number of different names being given to the same syndrome, depending on what part of the world you are in:

de Morsier’s Syndrome II;
Morsier-Gauthier Syndrome;
Kallmann-de Morsier Syndrome;
Maestre-Kallmann-de Morsier Syndrome;
Maestre de San Juan-Kallmann Syndrome;
Maestre de San Juan-Kallmann-de Morsier Syndrome;