Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke (; 6 July 1819 – 7 January 1892) was a German
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
and
physiologist
Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...
. He worked on the nature of cells, physiology of
language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
, the effect of electricity on
muscles
Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...
, and studies of
albumin
Albumin is a family of globular proteins, the most common of which are the serum albumins. All of the proteins of the albumin family are water- soluble, moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experience heat denaturation. Alb ...
. He also made significant contributions in the fields of
physics
Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
,
plant physiology
Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants.
Plant physiologists study fundamental processes of plants, such as photosynthesis, respiration, plant nutrition, plant hormone functions, tr ...
,
microscopic anatomy
Histology,
also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology that studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures visi ...
, and experimental physiology. He was an influential professor of
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
.
Biography
He was born Ernst Wilhelm Brücke in Berlin. He graduated in medicine at the
University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
in 1842, and during the following year, he became a research assistant to
Johannes Peter Müller
Johannes Peter Müller (14 July 1801 – 28 April 1858) was a German physiologist, comparative anatomist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist, known not only for his discoveries but also for his ability to synthesize knowledge. The paramesonephri ...
. In 1845, he founded the Physikalische Gesellschaft (Physical Society) in Berlin, together with
Emil Du Bois-Reymond
Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond (7 November 1818 – 26 December 1896) was a German physiologist, the co-discoverer of nerve action potential, and the developer of experimental electrophysiology. His lectures on science and culture earned him grea ...
,
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (; ; 31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894; "von" since 1883) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The ...
and others, in the house of
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
Heinrich Gustav Magnus. Later on, this became known as the
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft
The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. As of 2022, the DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 52,220, making it one of the largest national physics societies in the world. The DPG's membership peaked ...
(German Society of Physics). In 1846, Brücke was elected teacher of anatomy in the
Akademie der Bildenden Künste
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany.
In the second half of the 19th centur ...
, in Berlin. Following that, in 1848, he was appointed as professor of physiology at the
University of Königsberg
The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...
, replacing
Karl Friedrich Burdach (1776–1847). In 1849, he acquired similar duties at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
. In 1873, Emperor
Franz Joseph I
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...
honored Brücke with a noble title—von Brücke—but he rarely used it.
Ernst Fleischl von Marxow (1846–1891) and
Joseph Paneth (1857–1890), two colleagues of Freud, were assistants to Brücke in Vienna; however, Brücke is most noted for his influence on
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
, one of his other medical students. Freud began studying under Brücke in 1877 and continued doing so until 1883. He was tasked to examine the biology of nervous tissue, specifically comparing the brains of humans and other vertebrates to those of invertebrates. Freud would many times call Brücke the professor who shaped him the most. This influence led to the development of the science of
psychodynamics
Psychodynamics, also known as psychodynamic psychology, in its broadest sense, is an approach to psychology that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate t ...
. Brücke's teachings did not only influence Freud's work; parts of the noted psychologist's theory were pulled directly from his professor's principles, specifically the idea that all living things are dynamic and must bow to the laws of chemistry and physics.
Brücke retired from the University of Vienna in September 1890 and began working on a book he had long planned to write: ''Beauty and the Flaws of the Human Stature'', which ended up being published as ''The Human Figure: Its Beauties and Defects''.
Research
During Brücke's lifetime, specialization was not popular. Because of this, he had very diverse interests and made assorted contributions to the scientific community. Early on in his career, Brücke was interested in
optics
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...
, which led him to research the
tapetum lucidum
The ; ; : tapeta lucida) is a layer of tissue in the eye of many vertebrates and some other animals. Lying immediately behind the retina, it is a retroreflector. It Reflection (physics), reflects visible light back through the retina, increas ...
of the vertebrate eye and the action of the
ciliary muscle
The ciliary muscle is an intrinsic muscle of the eye formed as a ring of smooth muscleSchachar, Ronald A. (2012). "Anatomy and Physiology." (Chapter 4) . in the eye's middle layer, the uvea ( vascular layer). It controls accommodation for vie ...
. Following that, Brücke studied the eye's absorption of various light rays, the mystery of color sensation, and positive and negative afterimages. His work in the science of optics was instrumental towards Helmholtz's invention of the
ophthalmoscope
Ophthalmoscopy, also called funduscopy, is a test that allows a health professional to see inside the fundus of the eye and other structures using an ophthalmoscope (or funduscope). It is done as part of an eye examination and may be done as part ...
.
Further investigation of this related subject found Brücke examining the color changes in chameleons and
cephalopods
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...
, then studying pigment cells, and observing how muscular contraction is influenced by the duration of a stimulus.
Brücke also made contributions in a completely different discipline,
phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...
, when he wrote one of his early works directed at teachers of the deaf: ''Grundzüge der Physiologie und Systematik der Sprachlaute für Linguisten und Taubstummenlehre''.
In addition to optics, cellular investigations, and phonetics, Brücke had a deep interest in
philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and
aesthetics
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
, which was demonstrated by his authorship of semi-popular books, specifically a work on the physiology of color in applied art. Brücke's interest in color and the arts spread out from the scientific aspects of color into the industrial world as he laid down the principles of color combinations for the guidance of workers in fabrics. From this he took the short step from color to artistic form and to the declaration of the underlying principles of what makes art beautiful.
Ideology
Principles
Brücke was a
positivist. During his time, it was not an organized school of thought, but more a general attitude toward man, nature, and methods of investigation. He and others who shared his beliefs wanted to bring the approach of the
natural sciences
Natural science or empirical 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 ...
in to the investigation of all human thought and action. Brücke delved deeply into his position on positivism in ''Lectures on Physiology'', a course that was published in 1876.
While a medical student in Berlin along with his colleague Emil Du Bois-Reymond, Brücke condemned the ideas of
pantheism
Pantheism can refer to a number of philosophical and religious beliefs, such as the belief that the universe is God, or panentheism, the belief in a non-corporeal divine intelligence or God out of which the universe arisesAnn Thomson; Bodies ...
, all nature
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
, and all talk of occult divine forces manifesting themselves in the real world. These superstitions contrasted directly with their principles of positivism and their more materialistic views of the world. Later, the two researchers, along with Hermann von Helmholtz, turned their sights against the popular philosophic theory of the time:
vitalism
Vitalism is a belief that starts from the premise that "living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living entities because they contain some non-physical element or are governed by different principles than are inanimate things." Wher ...
. Vitalism is the idea that living things are only different from inanimate objects because they contain a "vital spark", which some believed to be the soul. The three partners contested this theory, stating that only the common physical-chemical functions are involved in the life of an organism.
The alternate theory that the researchers did adhere to was one that became very popular in the coming years:
naturalism. This theory fit perfectly with the beliefs of Brücke and his colleagues, as it stated that everything comes from natural properties and sources.
Feud
Josef Hyrtl was the head of the institute of anatomy at the University of Vienna, and a strong believer in the vitalist theory. He and Brücke initially got along well, and it was Hyrtl's influence that allowed Brücke to be a professor at the University. However, the longer they worked in close quarters, the less civil they became. A feud started that would last throughout their academic careers.
Hyrtl was an older traditionalist with regard to physiology. He was used to anatomy being the dominant method of medical teaching and training, and Brücke challenged this with his newer version of physiology, which was animal experimentation. Brücke built a wooden hut to house dogs for his experiments in a location near both his and Hyrtl's apartments. Hyrtl made complaints that the barking of the dogs was preventing him from sleeping, and this may have been true, however, his real reason for complaining was the fact that he disliked Brücke's methods of investigation into physiology.
The feud expanded into a disagreement about the function of the semicircular canals of the inner ear. Hyrtl believed that, based on their shape, the canals were used for directional hearing, while Brücke, having previous experimental knowledge about animals, concluded that the semicircular canals of the inner ear were instead sensory organs for equilibrium. This feud was a part of a deeper disagreement having to do with the two different philosophical viewpoints— vitalism and naturalism— that Hyrtl and Brücke followed.
Debate
In the 19th century, there was a debate about the inaccuracy in the way artists represented movement. This was spurred by the invention of
chronophotography
Chronophotography is a photographic technique from the Victorian era which captures a number of phases of movements. The best known chronophotography works were mostly intended for the scientific study of Animal locomotion, locomotion, to discov ...
and the assumption that this new technology would be able to change the habits of human and
animal locomotion
In ethology, animal locomotion is any of a variety of methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flight, flying, hopping, soaring and gli ...
from a more aesthetic and "conventional" (incorrect) locomotion to a more natural one.
The debate was expanded to the idea that artists should make their representations, such as paintings and sculptures, in a way that accurately reflects the mechanics of the organism they are imitating. For example, artists painting a horse should paint the horse as frozen in a moment of movement that accurately reflects how a real horse moves, instead of an aesthetic, incorrect position. Brücke disagreed with this idea. He believed that artists should not be forced to contain the aesthetic of their art within parameters of reality and mechanics, because the invention of chronophotography was an ineffective stimulus for changing the locomotion of humans and animals, as it would not prompt the automatic correction of apparent impractical postures and movements. To this end, Brücke believed that there had been a decline in art ever since the artist endeavored to mimic perfect reality instead of seeking out beauty in its multitude of appearances.
Selected works
* ''Ueber die Bewegungen der Mimosa pudica''. Archiv für Anatomie, Physiologie und wissenschaftliche Medicin: 434–455 (1848) -- On the movements of
Mimosa pudica
''Mimosa pudica'' (also called sensitive plant, sleepy grass, sleepy plant, action plant, humble plant, touch-me-not, touch-and-die, or shameplant) is a creeping annual or perennial flowering plant of the pea/legume family Fabaceae. It is often ...
.
* ''Beiträge zur vergleichenden Anatomie und Physiologie des Gefässsystems''. Denkschriften: Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe 3: 335–367 (1852) -- Contributions to the
comparative anatomy
Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species).
The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...
and physiology of the
vascular system
In vertebrates, the circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the body. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, that consists of the heart a ...
.
* ''Grundzüge der Physiologie und Systematik der Sprachlaute für Linguisten und Taubstummenlehrer''. Wien: C. Gerold & Sohn (1856) -- Fundamentals of physiology and classification of speech sounds for
linguists
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures ...
and deaf teachers.
* ''Die Elementarorganismen''. Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften 44: 381–406 (1861) -- Elementary organisms.
* ''Die Physiologie der Farben für die Zwecke der Kunstgewerbe''. Leipzig: S. Hirzel (1866) -- The physiology of colors for the purposes of the arts.
*
Die physiologischen Grundlagen der neuhochdeutschen Verskunst.' Wien: C. Gerold & Sohn (1871)
* ''Vorlesungen über Physiologie''—Lectures on physiology.:
**''1. 2., verm. u. verb. Aufl. 1875'
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
...
**''1. Physiologie des Kreislaufs, der Ernährung, der Absonderung, der Respiration und der Bewegungserscheinungen. 3., verm. u. verb. Aufl. 1881'
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
...
**''2. Physiologie der Nerven und der Sinnesorgane und Entwickelungsgeschichte. 2., verm. u. verb. Aufl. 1876'
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
...
**''2. Physiologie der Nerven und der Sinnesorgane und Entwickelungsgeschichte. 3., verm. u. verb. Aufl. 1884'
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
...
**''2 : S/S. 1886. Physiologie der Nerven und der Sinnesorgane und Entwickelungsgeschichte. 4., verm. u. verb. Aufl. 1887'
Digital editionby the
University and State Library Düsseldorf
The University and State Library Düsseldorf (, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of the three State Libraries of North Rhine-Westphalia.
...
References
External links
*
Ernst Wilhelm Ritter von Brücke WhoNamedIt.
Biography and bibliographyin the
Virtual Laboratory The online project Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930, located at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, is dedicated to research in the history of the experimentalization of life. T ...
of the
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (German: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte) is a scientific research institute founded in March 1994. It is dedicated to addressing fundamental questions of the history of knowled ...
The Human Figure: Its Beauties and Defects In the Preface by
William Anderson.
Freud was a pioneering neuroscientist From the newspaper The Guardian.
Ernst Brücke From ''The British Medical Journal'' and jstor.org.
''The Philosophical and Cultural Interests of the Biophysics Movement of 1847'' From oxfordjournals.org.
The personal and scientific feud between Ernst Brücke and Josef Hyrtl From NCBI.
The Physiological Circus: Knowing, Representing, and Training Horses in Motion in Nineteenth-Century France From jstor.org.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brücke, Ernst Wilhelm von
1819 births
1892 deaths
Scientists from Berlin
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
German physiologists
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the University of Vienna
Academic staff of the University of Königsberg
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Vitalists
Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
Biologists from the Kingdom of Prussia