Hermann Welcker (8 April 1822 – 12 September 1897) was a German

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

who was born in

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

. He was a nephew to

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker Friedrich Gottlieb Welcker (4 November 1784 – 17 December 1868) was a German classical philologist and archaeologist. Biography Welcker was born at Grünberg, Hesse-Darmstadt. Having studied classical philology at the University of Giessen ...

(1784–1868). In 1851 he earned his doctorate from the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

, and in 1859 he became a professor and

prosector A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and p ...

at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university i ...

. In 1876 he succeeded

Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann (1 July 1801, Leipzig – 21 April 1877, Halle an der Saale) was a German physiologist, anatomist, and philosopher. He specialized in the study of the nervous and optic systems. Biography Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann was bo ...

(1801–1877) as director of the anatomical institute at Halle. Along with his anatomical duties, Welcker was also a specialist in the fields of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

ethnology Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural anthropology, cultural, social anthropolo ...

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. He published numerous articles on each of these subjects. In 1854 he devised a method for measuring

blood volume Blood volume (volemia) is the volume of blood (blood cells and plasma) in the circulatory system of any individual. Humans A typical adult has a blood volume of approximately 5 liters, with females and males having approximately the same blood per ...

in humans and animals. He also devised a method for measuring

red blood cell Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

volume. The eponymous "Welcker's angle" is named after him, which is the anterior, inferior angle of the

parietal bone The parietal bones () are two bones in the Human skull, skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint, form the sides and roof of the Human skull, cranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four borders, an ...

. He is also credited with starting the first study of the persistence of friction ridge skin over time. He recorded his right hand print in 1856 and 1897, publishing a study in 1898. In 1889 Welcker received a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

for the invention of "galvanic spectacles", which were essentially battery-operated eyeglasses with nosepiece electrodes. These glasses were used as a remedy for

nasal congestion Nasal congestion is the blockage of nasal breathing usually due to membranes lining the nose becoming swollen from inflamed blood vessels. Background In about 85% of cases, nasal congestion leads to mouth breathing rather than nasal breathing. ...

. In addition he conducted numerous studies of human skulls, including the famous skulls of

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

and

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

References

External links

''Hermann Welcker''
@

Who Named It? ''Whonamedit?'' is an online English-language dictionary of medical eponyms and the people associated with their identification. Though it is a dictionary, many eponyms and persons are presented in extensive articles with comprehensive bibliograph ...

(extensive bibliography listed) {{DEFAULTSORT:Welcker, Hermann German anatomists 1822 births 1897 deaths University of Halle faculty People from Giessen Fellows of the Ethnological Society of London