Karl Bogislaus Reichert (20 December 1811 – 21 December 1883) 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 ...
,
embryologist
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...
and
histologist
Histology,
also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...
.
Biography
Reichert was born in
Rastenburg (Kętrzyn),
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
. From 1831 he studied at the
University of Konigsberg
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, where he was a student of embryologist
Karl Ernst Baer, then continued his education in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
under
Friedrich Schlemm
Friedrich Schlemm (11 December 1795 – 27 May 1858) was a German anatomist who was professor at the University of Berlin.
He was born in Salzgitter. As his family could not afford higher education, he was apprenticed to a barber-surgeon in Brauns ...
and
Johannes Peter Müller
Johannes Peter Müller (14 July 1801 – 28 April 1858) was a German physiologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist, ichthyology, ichthyologist, and herpetology, herpetologist, known not only for his discoveries but also for his ability ...
. In 1836 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on the
gill arches
Branchial arches, or gill arches, are a series of bony "loops" present in fish, which support the gills. As gills are the primitive condition of vertebrates, all vertebrate embryos develop pharyngeal arches, though the eventual fate of these arc ...
of vertebrate embryos.
[The Virtual Laboratory; Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life]
(biography) Afterwards, he worked as an intern at the
Charité
The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Cen ...
, and from 1839 to 1843, served as an assistant 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 Berlin.
[Reichert, Karl Bogislaus]
Deutsche Biographie
In 1843 he attained the chair of anatomy at the
University of Dorpat
The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...
, and ten years later, succeeded
Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold
Prof Karl (Carl) Theodor Ernst von Siebold FRS(For) HFRSE (16 February 1804 – 7 April 1885) was a German physiologist and zoologist. He was responsible for the introduction of the taxa Arthropoda and Rhizopoda, and for defining the taxon Protoz ...
as professor of
physiology
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 ...
at the
University of Breslau
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
.
[ In 1858 he returned to Berlin as chair of anatomy, where he succeeded his former mentor, Johannes Peter Müller.][
Reichert is remembered for his work in ]embryology
Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, '' -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...
, and for his pioneer research in cell theory
In biology, cell theory is a scientific theory first formulated in the mid-nineteenth century, that living organisms are made up of Cell (biology), cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cell ...
. With Ernst Gaupp
Ernst Wilhelm Theodor Gaupp (13 July 1865 – 23 November 1916) was a German anatomist from Beuthen in Upper Silesia (today Bytom, Poland).
He studied natural sciences and medicine in Jena, Königsberg and Breslau, where he received his doctora ...
, he was co-architect of the Reichert–Gaupp theory
The evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles was an evolutionary event that resulted in the formation of the bones of the mammalian middle ear. These bones, or ossicles, are a defining characteristic of all mammals. The event is well-documented an ...
concerning the origin of mammalian ossicles
The ossicles (also called auditory ossicles) are three bones in either middle ear that are among the smallest bones in the human body. They serve to transmit sounds from the air to the fluid-filled labyrinth (cochlea). The absence of the auditory ...
of the ear. His name is lent to the eponymous "Reichert's cartilage", described as a cartilaginous
Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck and ...
structure in the second branchial arch
The pharyngeal arches, also known as visceral arches'','' are structures seen in the Animal embryonic development, embryonic development of vertebrates that are recognisable precursors for many structures. In fish, the arches are known as the b ...
from which develop the temporal styloid process
The temporal styloid process is a slender bony process of the temporal bone extending downward and forward from the undersurface of the temporal bone just below the ear. The styloid process gives attachments to several muscles, and ligaments.
Stru ...
es, the stylohyoid ligament
The stylohyoid ligament is a ligament that connects the hyoid bone to the temporal styloid process (of the temporal bone of the skull).
Structure
The stylohyoid ligament connects the lesser horn of hyoid bone to the styloid process of the ...
s, and the lesser cornu of the hyoid bone.
Written works
* ''De embryonum arcubus sic dictis branchialibus''. Berlin, 1836 – On the so-called branchial arches of embryos.
* "Ueber die Visceralbogen der Wirbelthiere im Allgemeinen und deren Metamorphosen bei den Vögeln und Säugethieren". ''Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin'': 120–222, 1837 – On the visceral arch of vertebrates in general and its metamorphosis in birds and mammals.
* ''Das Entwicklungsleben im Wirbelthierreiche''. 1840, Berlin – Development of life in vertebrates.
* ''Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Zustandes der heutigen Entwicklungsgeschichte''. 1843, Berlin – Contributions to the knowledge on the state of present-day developmental history.
* ''Der Bau des menschlichen Gehirns''. 1859–1861, Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
– Construction of the human brain
The human brain is the central organ of the human nervous system, and with the spinal cord makes up the central nervous system. The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brainstem and the cerebellum. It controls most of the activities of the ...
.[
]
See also
* 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 ...
References
External links
OCLC WorldCat
(published works)
1811 births
1883 deaths
People from Kętrzyn
German anatomists
19th-century German biologists
German histologists
German embryologists
People from East Prussia
University of Königsberg alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin
Academic staff of the University of Tartu
Academic staff of the University of Breslau
{{Germany-biologist-stub