Johannes Wilhelm Gad was a German neurophysiologist who was a native of Posen

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

.

He was an assistant to Emil du Bois-Reymond

Emil du Bois-Reymond

Emil du Bois-Reymond was a German physician and physiologist, the discoverer of nerve action potential, and the father of experimental electrophysiology.-Life:...

 (1818–1896) at the physiological institute at the University of Berlin, and later worked under Adolf Fick (1829–1901) at the University of Würzburg

University of Würzburg

The University of Würzburg is a university in Würzburg, Germany, founded in 1402. The university is a member of the distinguished Coimbra Group.-Name:...

. In 1893–1894 he was a visiting lecturer of physiology at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

, and after returning to Germany, became departmental head at the physiological institute in Berlin. In 1895 he succeeded Ewald Hering

Ewald Hering

Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering was a German physiologist who did much research into color vision and spatial perception...

 (1834–1918) as manager of the department of physiology at the University of Prague

Charles University in Prague

Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...

.

Gad is known from his work in experimental physiology. He performed numerous investigations involving electrophysiology

Electrophysiology

Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...

, spinal cord

Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...

 functionality, the relationship between lactic acid

Lactic acid

Lactic acid, also known as milk acid, is a chemical compound that plays a role in various biochemical processes and was first isolated in 1780 by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Lactic acid is a carboxylic acid with the chemical formula C3H6O3...

 to muscle contraction, et al. With Edward Flatau

Edward Flatau

Edward Flatau was a Polish neurologist. His work greatly influenced the developing field of neurology. He established neurobiologic and neuropathological sciences in Poland...

 (1868–1932) he performed experiments that were critical of Bastian-Bruns Law

Ludwig Bruns

Ludwig Bruns was a German neurologist who was a native of Hanover. He studied medicine in Göttingen and Munich, receiving his doctorate in 1882. Subsequently, he was an assistant to Eduard Hitzig at the insane asylum in Nietleben as well as at the psychiatric and nerve clinic in Halle...

 regarding the loss of function following spinal cord injury.

Among his written works was a textbook on human physiology

Human physiology

Human physiology is the science of the mechanical, physical, bioelectrical, and biochemical functions of humans in good health, their organs, and the cells of which they are composed. Physiology focuses principally at the level of organs and systems...

 that he co-authored with pharmacologist Jean-François Heymans called Kurzes Lehrbuch der Physiologie des Menschen, and a treatise on skin sensation

Somatosensory system

The somatosensory system is a diverse sensory system composed of the receptors and processing centres to produce the sensory modalities such as touch, temperature, proprioception , and nociception . The sensory receptors cover the skin and epithelia, skeletal muscles, bones and joints, internal...

 called Ueber die Summation von Hautreizen, that was published with Alfred Goldscheider

Alfred Goldscheider

Johannes Karl Eugen Alfred Goldscheider was a German neurologist who was born in Sommerfeld ....

(1858–1935).