Joseph Babinski (1857-1932), a French neurologist of Polish descent, was the first person to describe extension of the big toe following stimulation of the sole of the foot on 22 February 1896 (Babinski, 1896). He referred to the sign as 'phénomène des orteils' (toes phenomenon) but it is now usually referred to eponymously as the 'Babinski sign' or descriptively as the extensor plantar response.