Prof Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger FRSFor

HFRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(; 7 June 1829 – 16 March 1910) was a 19th-century German

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

Life

He was born in

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

on 7 June 1829. After initially studying law at Berlin University, he transferred to study medicine, also doing further study at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

, earning his doctorate in 1853. While in Berlin he worked as an assistant to

Emil du Bois-Reymond Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond (7 November 181826 December 1896) was a German physician and physiologist, the co-discoverer of nerve action potential, and the developer of experimental electrophysiology. Life Du Bois-Reymond was born in Berlin a ...

(1818–1896). In 1859 he became a professor of physiology at the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

, where he remained for the rest of his career. Among his students in Bonn were physiologist

Nathan Zuntz Nathan Zuntz (6 October 1847, in Bonn – 22 March 1920, in Berlin) was a German physiologist born in Bonn. He was a pioneer of modern altitude physiology and aviation medicine. Academic career He studied medicine at the University of Bonn, wh ...

(1847–1920) and

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

Hugo Paul Friedrich Schulz (1853–1932). Pflüger made contributions in many aspects of physiology, including embryological physiology,

respiratory physiology In physiology, respiration is the movement of oxygen from the outside environment to the cells within Tissue (biology), tissues, and the transport, removal of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction that's to the environment. The physiological d ...

, sensory physiology and

electrophysiology Electrophysiology (from Greek , ''ēlektron'', "amber" etymology of "electron"">Electron#Etymology">etymology of "electron" , ''physis'', "nature, origin"; and , '' -logia'') is the branch of physiology that studies the electrical properties of b ...

. The eponymous "Pflüger's law" (''Pflüger's Zuckungsgesetz'') is the result of his research on electrical stimulation and its correlation to

muscular contraction Muscle contraction is the activation of tension-generating sites within muscle cells. In physiology, muscle contraction does not necessarily mean muscle shortening because muscle tension can be produced without changes in muscle length, such as ...

. In 1868 he founded ''Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie des Menschen und der Thiere'' (now Pflügers Archiv: European Journal of Physiology), a publication that became the most influential journal of physiology in Germany. He conducted research on intestinal

peristalsis Peristalsis ( , ) is a radially symmetrical contraction and relaxation of muscles that propagate in a wave down a tube, in an anterograde direction. Peristalsis is progression of coordinated contraction of involuntary circular muscles, which ...

, the sensory functions of the

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue, which extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone). The backbone encloses the central canal of the spi ...

, the physiology of electrotonus, on

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

metabolism Metabolism (, from el, μεταβολή ''metabolē'', "change") is the set of life-sustaining chemical reactions in organisms. The three main functions of metabolism are: the conversion of the energy in food to energy available to run cell ...

and on regulation of

body temperature Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...

by the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...

, et al. In one of his more important studies, he proved that

respiration Respiration may refer to: Biology * Cellular respiration, the process in which nutrients are converted into useful energy in a cell ** Anaerobic respiration, cellular respiration without oxygen ** Maintenance respiration, the amount of cellula ...

takes place in the peripheral tissue rather than in the blood. He also performed extensive research of

glycogen Glycogen is a multibranched polysaccharide of glucose that serves as a form of energy storage in animals, fungi, and bacteria. The polysaccharide structure represents the main storage form of glucose in the body. Glycogen functions as one o ...

, and is credited with the creation of several physiological instruments. He died in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

on 16 March 1910.

Selected publications

* ''Die sensorischen Functionen des Rückenmarks der wirbelthiere'' (The sensory functions of the spinal cord of

vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

animals), 1853. * ''Experimentalbeitrag zur Theorie der Hemmungsnerven'' (Experimental contribution to the theory of neural inhibition) In: Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin. 1859, S. 13–29. * ''Ueber ein neues Reagens zur Darstellung des Axencylinders'' (About a new

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

for the visualization of axon-cylinders) In: Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin. 1859, S. 132. * ''Ueber die Ursache des Oeffnungstetanus'' (On the cause of "oeffnungtetanus") In: Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin. 1859, S. 133–148. * ''Ueber die Bewegungen der Ovarien'' (On the movements of the

ovaries The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...

) In: Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin. 1859, S. 30–32. * ''Uber die Eierstöcke der Säugetiere und des Menschen'' (On the ovaries of mammals and humans), 1863. * ''Uber die Kohlemsäure des Blute'' (On

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...

in the blood), 1864. * ''Bemerkungen zur Physiologie des centralen Nervensystems'' (Remarks on the physiology of the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...

) In: Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie des Menschen und der Thiere. Band 15, 1877, S. 150–152. * ''Wesen und Aufgaben der Physiologie'' (The nature and role of physiology), 1878. * ''Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie für Aerzte und Studirende'' (Textbook of

psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...

for doctors and students), 1883. * ''Neurasthenie (Nervenschwäche), ihr Wesen, ihre Bedeutung und Behandlung vom anatomisch-physiologischen Standpunkte für Aerzte und Studirende'' (

Neurasthenia Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...

, its essence, significance and treatment from an anatomic-physiological standpoint for doctors and students), 1885. * ''Die Quelle der Muskelkraft'' (The source of

muscle strength Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle ...

), 1891. * ''Das Glykogen und seine Beziehungen zur Zuckerkrankheit'' (Glycogen and its relationship to

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

), 1905.

References

translated biography @

Meyers Konversations-Lexikon ' or ' was a major encyclopedia in the German language that existed in various editions, and by several titles, from 1839 to 1984, when it merged with the '. Joseph Meyer (1796–1856), who had founded the publishing house in 1826, intended t ...

External links

Pflüger's Law of Contraction Explained, Journal of Anatomy

Proteins, enzymes, genes by Joseph Stewart Fruton * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pfluger, Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm 1829 births 1910 deaths German physiologists People from the Electorate of Hesse Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) University of Marburg alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the University of Bonn People from Hanau Foreign Members of the Royal Society Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences