Carl Wedl (14 October 1815 – 21 September 1891) was an Austrian

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in t ...

who was a native of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1841 he obtained his doctorate in Vienna, and subsequently practiced medicine in

Ischl Bad Ischl (Austrian German ) is a spa town in Austria. It lies in the southern part of Upper Austria, at the Traun River in the centre of the Salzkammergut region. The town consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Ahorn'', ''Bad Ischl'', ''Haiden ...

and

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

. In 1844 he took a scientific journey to France and England, afterwards returning to Vienna, where he performed histological research. With assistance from

Karl Rokitansky Baron Carl von Rokitansky (german: Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, cs, Karel Rokytanský; 19 February 1804 – 23 July 1878) was a Bohemian physician, pathologist, humanist philosopher and liberal politician, founder of the Viennese School of Medi ...

(1804–1878), he received his habilitation in 1849. In 1853 he became an associate professor, and in 1872 was appointed professor of

histology 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 vi ...

at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...

. Some of his well-known students were

Heinrich Auspitz Carl Heinrich Auspitz (2 September 1835 in Nikolsburg, Moravia – 22 May 1886 in Vienna) was a Jewish Austrian dermatologist. He was the husband of pianist Auguste Auspitz-Kólar (1843–1878).Statement(s) based on translated text from an equivale ...

(1834–1885), Moritz Kaposi (1837–1902) and Salomon Stricker (1834–1898). Wedl is largely remembered for his work in microscopic

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

and

. He made contributions in the fields of helminthology,

neurology Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal ...

and

ophthalmology Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a med ...

, and was one of the first physicians to apply

cell theory In biology, cell theory is a scientific theory first formulated in the mid-nineteenth century, that living organisms are made up of cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cells come from pr ...

to pathology of the eye. The eponymous "Wedl cells" are named after him, defined as dysplastic bladder-like fibers in the

crystalline lens The lens, or crystalline lens, is a transparent biconvex structure in the eye that, along with the cornea, helps to refract light to be focused on the retina. By changing shape, it functions to change the focal length of the eye so that it ca ...

of the eye. Drusen, the hallmark of AMD, were first described in 1854 by Wedl. Wedl named them

colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others exten ...

bodies of the

choroid The choroid, also known as the choroidea or choroid coat, is a part of the uvea, the vascular layer of the eye, and contains connective tissues, and lies between the retina and the sclera. The human choroid is thickest at the far extreme rear ...

and thought that they were incompletely developed cells, because they had no cell membrane or nucleus. The genus ''Wedlia'' ( Cobbold 1860) is named after him, as are the species ''Didymosulcus wedli'' (Ariola, 1902), ''Ascaris wedli'' ( Stossich, 1896) and '' Paroneirodes wedli'' ( Pietschmann 1926).
petymol Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names- W. Wedl was the author of numerous books and articles, a few of which have been translated into English. He died on September 21, 1891, bequeathing his estate to the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna Academy of Sciences.

Written works

* ''Beiträge zur Lehre von den Hämatozoen'', 1850 - Contributions to the study of hematozoa. * ''Beiträge zur Anatomie des zweibuckeligen Kameeles (Camelus bactrianus)'',1852 (with Franz Müller) - Contributions to the anatomy of the

Bactrian camel The Bactrian camel (''Camelus bactrianus''), also known as the Mongolian camel or domestic Bactrian camel, is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of Central Asia. It has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped drom ...

. * ''Grundzüge der pathologischen Histologie'', 1854, translated and edited by George Busk as "Rudiments of Pathological Histology", 1855 * ''Über das Nervensystem der Nematoden'' 1855 - - On the

nervous system In Biology, biology, the nervous system is the Complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its Behavior, actions and Sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its ...

of the nematode. * ''Über einige Nematoden'', 1856 - On some nematodes. * ''Charakteristik mehrerer Grössentheils neuer Tänien'', 1856 - treatise on Taenia. * ''Über ein in den Mägen des Rindes Vorkommendes Epiphyt'' 1858 - * ''Anatomische Beobachtungen über Trematoden'', 1858 - Anatomical observations on

trematode Trematoda is a Class (biology), class of flatworms known as flukes. They are obligate parasite, obligate internal Parasitism, parasites with a complex biological life cycle, life cycle requiring at least two Host_(biology), hosts. The intermedia ...

s. * ''Über die bedeutung der in den schalen von manchen acephalen und gasteropoden vorkommenden canäle', 1859 - * ''Beiträge zur Pathologie der Blutgefässe'', 1859 - Contributions to the pathology of

blood vessel Blood vessels are the structures of the circulatory system that transport blood throughout the human body. These vessels transport blood cells, nutrients, and oxygen to the tissues of the body. They also take waste and carbon dioxide away from ...

s. * ''Über einen im Zahnbein und Knochen keimenden Pilz'', 1864 - On bone and dentin in germinating fungi. * ''Atlas zur Pathologie der Zähne'', 1869 (with

Moriz Heider Moriz Heider (21 June 1816, Vienna – 29 July 1866, Vienna) was an Austrian dentist born in Vienna. He studied medicine in Vienna, where he was an assistant to Georg Carabelli (1787-1842). In 1858 he became an associate professor at the Univers ...

and Joseph R von Metnitz) translated into English as "Atlas to the pathology of the teeth". * ''Über die Haut-Sensibilitätsbezirke der einzelnen Rückenmarksnervenpaare'', 1869 (with Ludwig Türck) - On sensitivity areas of each spinal nerve pair. * ''Histologische Mittheilungen. Zur Anatomie der Milz'', 1871 - Histological Mittheilungen. On the anatomy of the

spleen The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes .

. * ''Pathologie der Zähne, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf Anatomie und Physiologie'', 1870, translated into English by W.E. Boardman (with notes by T.B. Hitchcock) as "The pathology of the teeth, with special reference to their anatomy and physiology", 1872. * ''Zur pathologischen Anatomie des Glaukoms'', 1882 - The

pathological anatomy Anatomical pathology (''Commonwealth'') or Anatomic pathology (''U.S.'') is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination o ...

glaucoma Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that result in damage to the optic nerve (or retina) and cause vision loss. The most common type is open-angle (wide angle, chronic simple) glaucoma, in which the drainage angle for fluid within the eye re ...

. * ''Der Aberglaube und die Naturwissenschaften'', 1883 - Superstition and

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeat ...

. * ''Pathologische Anatomie des Auges'', 1886 - Pathological anatomy of the eye.

References

translated biography @ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
WorldCat Libraries
List of publications

biography @

AEIOU Encyclopedia Austria-Forum is a freely accessible online collection of reference works in both German and English about Austria-related topics. Background The predecessor of Austria-Forum, the AEIOU project was launched in 1996 by the Austrian Federal Minist ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedl, Carl 1815 births 1891 deaths Austrian histologists Austrian pathologists Scientists from Vienna Academic staff of the University of Vienna

Written works

See also

References