Rudolf virchow discoveries
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Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, politician and social reformer, but he is best known as the founder of the field of cellular pathology. He stressed that most of the diseases of mankind could be understood in terms of the dysfunction of cells.
The use of the word 'cell' to describe the basic unit of life was famously coined by Robert Hooke in 1665, and Theodor Schwann had begun to elaborate his cell theory in Virchow's time, but histology was still dominated by the theories of Marie Bichat. Bichat, an 18th century French anatomist, had described 21 basic tissues in animals, but because he eschewed the use of the microscope, which he distrusted, his descriptions were necessarily at the level of gross anatomy.
Unlike Bichat, Virchow loved the microscope, and like Schwann, recognized cells to be of paramount importance. According to Virchow, \the structural composition
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Rudolf Virchow and the discovery of the Müller cell
Albrecht von Graefe (1828–1870) studied medicine in Berlin and one of his teachers was Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902; Fig. 1A) who later became his colleague at the Charité. Graefe was appointed as Director of the Department of Ophthalmology in 1868. At that time Virchow has been Chair of the Department of Pathology since 1856.
Portrait Virchow and Müller. A Portrait of Rudolf Virchow (from Wikipedia, public domain). B Portrait of Heinrich Müller (From WürzburgWiki.de)
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Both founded scientific journals. In 1847—at the age of 26—Virchow established the Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin, published by Georg Reimer. He remained Editor-in-Chief until his death in 1902. Afterwards, the journal was renamed to Virchows Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin. It still exists as Virchow Archiv, published by SpringerNature.
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The life and work of Rudolf Virchow 1821–1902: “Cell theory, thrombosis and the sausage duel”
Early life
Virchow was born in Poland, and despite humble beginnings from a working class family, he excelled at school, becoming fluent in six languages. Virchow gave up his original plan of theology partly on account of his weak voice which he felt would prevent him being heard from the pulpit, and partly, it would seem, because he was agnostic.
Medical work
After graduating from Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin in 1843, his major work was in pathology, becoming its professor in Pathological Anatomy and Physiology in 1854. He developed an interest in microscopy. His first scientific paper was two years after graduating, on the pathological description of leukaemia, a begrepp he invented. On the back of the recent discovery bygd Theodor Swann that all animals are composed of cells, he became convinced of their importance, declaring: “The body is a cell state in which every cell is a