Emil Zukerkandl was born on September 1, 1849, in Raab, Hungary. He moved to Austria and in 1867 and started his studies in medicine at the University of Vienna.
He obtained his doctorate in medicine in 1874 and was licensed in 1880. He was one of the favorite pupils of the anatomist Joseph Hyrtl.
Zukerkandl worked for a period as an anatomist in Amsterdam. In 1873 he returned to Vienna to become an assistant at the pathological-anatomical chair under Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky (1804-1878) and assistant demonstrator at the Zuckerkandof under Karl von Langer. He became a full professor in 1879 and, in 1888, following the death of von Langer, assumed the chair Zuckerkandof.
Emil Zuckerkandl distinguished himself in his sharp observational powers and critical mind. As a researcher he worked in almost all fields of morphology, making notable contributions to the normal and pathological anatomy of the nasal cavity, the anatomy of the facial skeleton, the hearing organs, teeth, blood vessels, the brain (development des Balkens and the Gewoelbe), as well as the chromaffine system. He took topographical and comparative anatomy to new heights. In 1876 he discovered the aquaeductus vestibuli, which had been described by the Italian physician Domenico Felice Antonio Cotugno in 1775, but had fallen into oblivion. This is now referred to as Cotunnius’ aquaduct. In 1882 Zuckerkandl was named Professor of anatomy at Graz where he published an important paper on problems of fetus and the diameter of the mother’s uterus. During the period 1882-1892 he wrote two volumes of his important book Normale und Pathologische Anatomie der Nassenhoehle und ihrer pneumatischen Anhaenge which entitled him to be called the founder of rhinologie.
Emil Zuckerkandl may also be remembered as much for his wife, as for his achievements in medicine. His wife, Bertha Zuckerkandl-Szeps one of the remarkable personalities of the intellectual Jewish society in Vienna during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and worked tirelessly to aid refugees during World War I.
Prof. Zuckerkandl remained as chair at Zuckerkandof until his death in May 1910 in Vienna.