Robert Remak
Encyclopedia
Robert Remak 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. He is best known for reducing Karl Ernst von Baer
's four germ layer
s 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.
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.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
/German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
embryologist, physiologist, and neurologist, born in Posen, Prussia
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
. Dr. Remak obtained his medical degree from Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin in 1838 specializing in neurology. He is best known for reducing Karl Ernst von Baer
Karl Ernst von Baer
Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer, Edler von Huthorn also known in Russia as Karl Maksimovich Baer was an Estonian naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, a founding father of embryology, explorer of European Russia and Scandinavia, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a...
's four germ layer
Germ layer
A germ layer, occasionally referred to as a germinal epithelium, is a group of cells, formed during animal embryogenesis. Germ layers are particularly pronounced in the vertebrates; however, all animals more complex than sponges produce two or three primary tissue layers...
s to three: the ectoderm
Ectoderm
The "ectoderm" is one of the three primary germ cell layers in the very early embryo. The other two layers are the mesoderm and endoderm , with the ectoderm as the most exterior layer...
, mesoderm
Mesoderm
In all bilaterian animals, the mesoderm is one of the three primary germ cell layers in the very early embryo. The other two layers are the ectoderm and endoderm , with the mesoderm as the middle layer between them.The mesoderm forms mesenchyme , mesothelium, non-epithelial blood corpuscles and...
and endoderm
Endoderm
Endoderm is one of the three primary germ cell layers in the very early embryo. The other two layers are the ectoderm and mesoderm , with the endoderm as the intermost layer...
. He also discovered unmyelinated nerve fibres and the nerve cells in the heart sometimes called Remak's ganglia. He studied under Johannes Muller
Johannes Müller
Johannes Müller, Johann Müller or Hans Müller may refer to:* Johannes Müller von Königsberg , known as Regiomontanus, German mathematician and astronomer* Johannes von Müller , Swiss historian...
at the University of Berlin.
Remak discovered that the origin of cells was by the division
Cell division
Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells . Cell division is usually a small segment of a larger cell cycle. This type of cell division in eukaryotes is known as mitosis, and leaves the daughter cell capable of dividing again. The corresponding sort...
of pre-existing cells.
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
Robert Remak (mathematician)
Robert Erich Remak was a German mathematician. He is chiefly remembered for his work in group theory . His other interests included algebraic number theory, mathematical economics and geometry of numbers...
who died in Auschwitz in 1942.
External links
- Biography
- Scientific biography
- Short biography and bibliography in the Virtual LaboratoryVirtual LaboratoryThe online project Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930, located at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, is dedicated to research in the history of the experimentalization of life...
of the Max Planck Institute for the History of ScienceMax Planck Institute for the History of ScienceThe Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin was established in March 1994. Its research is primarily devoted to a theoretically oriented history of science, principally of the natural sciences, but with methodological perspectives drawn from the cognitive sciences and from...