Theodor Langhans was a German pathologist who was a native of Usingen

Usingen

Usingen is a small town in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hessen, Germany. Until 1972, this residential and school town was the seat of the former district of Usingen.-Location:...

, Duchy of Nassau. He studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg, and at the University of Göttingen under Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle

Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle

Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle was a German physician, pathologist and anatomist. He is credited with the discovery of the loop of Henle in the kidney. His essay "On Miasma and Contagia" was an early argument for the germ theory of disease...

 (1809–1885), at Berlin

Humboldt University of Berlin

The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...

 under Rudolf Virchow

Rudolf Virchow

Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...

 (1821–1902) and in 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:...

, where he became an assistant to Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen

Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen

Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen was a German pathologist who practiced medicine in Würzburg and Strassburg . Born in Gütersloh, Westphalia, he was the father of physiologist Heinrich von Recklinghausen ....

 (1833–1910). In 1867 he became a lecturer at the University of Marburg, and in 1872 became a full professor of pathology

Pathology

Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

 at the University of Giessen

University of Giessen

The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...

, where he succeeded Ludwig Franz Alexander Winther

Ludwig Franz Alexander Winther

Ludwig Franz Alexander Winther was a German pathologist and ophthalmologist who was a native of Offenbach am Main. From 1848-1867 he was an associate professor of general pathology and therapy at the University of Giessen, and from 1867 until 1871 was the first full professor of general pathology...

 (1812–1871).

From 1872 until 1912, Langhans was a professor of pathological anatomy at the University of Bern, where one of his assistants was surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 Fritz de Quervain

Fritz de Quervain

Fritz de Quervain was a Swiss surgeon born in Sion. He was a leading authority on thyroid disease.In 1892 he received his doctorate from the University of Bern, and several years later became director of the surgical department at a hospital in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the canton of Neuchâtel...

 (1868–1940).

Langhans is remembered for his discovery of multi-nucleated giant cells that are found in granuloma

Granuloma

Granuloma is a medical term for a tiny collection of immune cells known as macrophages. Granulomas form when the immune system attempts to wall off substances that it perceives as foreign but is unable to eliminate. Such substances include infectious organisms such as bacteria and fungi as well as...

tous conditions, and are now referred to as Langhans giant cell

Langhans giant cell

Langhans giant cells are large cells found in granulomatous conditions.They are formed by the fusion of epithelioid cells , and contain nuclei arranged in a horseshoe-shaped pattern in the cell periphery....

s.