Karl Stoerk (German: Störk); (September 17, 1832 - September 13, 1899) was an Austrian laryngologist who was a native of Ofen.
He studied medicine at the Universities of Prague and Vienna, and received his doctorate in 1858. Afterwards he was an assistant to Ludwig Türck (1810–1868) in Vienna, where he practiced medicine for the remainder of his career. In 1891 Stoerk was appointed head of the laryngological clinic.
Along with Leopold von Schrötter (1837–1908) and Johann Schnitzler (1835–1893), Stoerk was a catalyst in making Vienna a major center of laryngological research in the 19th century. He demonstrated the possibility of applying medicine into larynx and throat assisted by a laryngoscope. He also devised several medical instruments, including an early esophagoscope that was modification of the "Waldenburg esophagoscope". Stoerk's endoscopic device consisted of three telescopic tubes with a bendable mechanism.
Associated eponym: Stoerk's blennorrhea: free discharge of mucus producing hypertrophy of the mucosa of the nose, pharynx, and larynx.[1]