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Robert Remak
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Polish–German embryologist and anatomist (1815–1865)
Remak, born the son of a shopkeeper in Posen (now in Poland), obtained his MD from the University of Berlin in 1838. Although he spent most of his career there and despite his considerable scientific achievements Remak was denied appropriate promotion and a teaching position because he was a Jew.
In 1838 Remak finally disposed of the ancient myth, probably dating back to Alcmaeon of Croton, that nerves were hollow tubes. In the long history of medicine they had been authoritatively described by centuries of keen-eyed anatomists as carrying various spirits, fluids, and airs. Even the introduction of the microscope in the 17th century made no difference. It was left to Remak to point out that the nerve fiber is not hollow, but solid and flat.
In 1844 Remak discovered ganglion cells in the heart, thus showing that it could maintain a rhythmic beat independently of the central nervous system. He further noted that certain fibers of the nervous system, the sympathetic fibers, have a distinctly gray color rather than the more common white. They in fact lack the myelin sheath enclosing other nerve fibers.
In the mid 1840s, in collaboration with Johannes Müller, Remak made a major revision to the orthodox embryology of Karl von Baer. They reduced the four germ layers of von Baer to three by taking the two middle layers as only one. They also at this point introduced the modern terminology of endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm.
It was also Remak who, in 1841, first fully described the process of cell division. He went on to insist that the nucleus was a permanent feature of the cell even though it did become less noticeable after cell division. By 1855 Remak was ready to assert the general conclusion implicit in much of the early cell theory: that the production of nuclei or cells is really only division of preexisting nuclei or cells.
| Wikipedia: Robert Remak |
| Robert Remak | |
|---|---|
 Robert Remak
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| Born | 26 July 1815 |
| Died | 29 August 1865 |
| Nationality | Polish/German |
| Fields | embryology physiologist neurology |
| Alma mater | University of Berlin |
| Doctoral advisor | Johannes Muller |
| Known for | ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm |
Robert Remak (26 July 1815 – 29 August 1865) was a Polish/German embryologist, physiologist, and neurologist, born in Posen, Prussia. Dr. Remak obtained his medical degree from Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin in 1838 specializing in neurology.[1] He is best known for reducing Karl Ernst von Baer's four germ layers to three: the ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm. He also discovered unmyelinated nerve fibres and the nerve cells in the heart sometimes called Remak's ganglia. He studied under Johannes Muller at the University of Berlin.
Remak discovered that the origin of cells was by the division of pre-existing cells.[2] Unfortunately, after years of doubt this work was accepted and plagiarized by Rudolf Virchow[3][4]
Despite his accomplishments, because of his Jewish faith he was repeatedly denied full professor status until late in life, and even then was denied the usual benefits of the position.
His son Ernst Julius Remak was also a neurologist and his grandson was the mathematician Robert Remak who died in Auschwitz in 1942.
References
- ^ Kish, B. 1954. Forgotten leaders in modern medicine: Valentin, Gruby, Remak, Auerbach. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 44, Issue 2, 139–317.
- ^ Magner, Lois N. A history of the life sciences. p185
- ^ BBC4 'The Cell: 1 The Hidden Kingdom', Dr Adam Rutherford, Aug 2009
- ^ Silver, GA (Jan 1987). "Virchow, the heroic model in medicine: health policy by accolade.". American Hournal of Public Health 1 (77): 86. PMID 3538915. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/pagerender.fcgi?artid=1646803&pageindex=5. Retrieved Sep 2009.
- Schmiedebach, H P (1990), "Robert Remak (1815-1865). A jewish physician and researcher between recognition and rejection", Zeitschrift für ärztliche Fortbildung 84 (17): 889–94, PMID 2251855
- Anderson, C T (1986), "Robert Remak and the multinucleated cell: eliminating a barrier to the acceptance of cell division.", Bulletin of the history of medicine 60 (4): 523–43, PMID 3545332
- Seeliger, H P (1985), "The discovery of Achorion schoenleinii. Facts and stories (Johann Lucas Schoenlein and Robert Remak).", Mykosen 28 (4): 161–82, 1985 Apr, PMID 3889638
- Schwann, J; Schwann, S (1963), "Circimstances of the Discovery of the Pathogen of Favus (Trichophyton Schoenleini, Achorion Schoenleini) by Robert Remark", Annales Academiae Medicae Stetinensis 9: 161–7, PMID 14059131
External links
- Biography
- Scientific biography
- Short biography and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
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