Rudolf Virchow facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rudolf Virchow
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| Born | 13 October 1821 Schivelbein, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia, German Confederation
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| Died | 5 September 1902 (aged 80) |
| Resting place | Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof, Schöneberg |
| Citizenship | Kingdom of Prussia |
| Education | Friedrich Wilhelm University (M.D., 1843) |
| Known for | Cell theory Cellular pathology Biogenesis Virchow's triad |
| Spouse(s) | Ferdinande Rosalie Mayer (a.k.a. Rose Virchow) |
| Awards | Copley Medal (1892) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicine Anthropology |
| Institutions | Charité University of Würzburg |
| Thesis | De rheumate praesertim corneae (1843) |
| Doctoral advisor | Johannes Peter Müller |
| Other academic advisors | Robert Froriep |
| Doctoral students | Friedrich Daniel von Recklinghausen Walther Kruse |
| Other notable students | Ernst Haeckel Edwin Klebs Franz Boas Adolph Kussmaul Max Westenhöfer William Osler William H. Welch |
| Influenced | Eduard Hitzig Charles Scott Sherrington Paul Farmer |
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Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (/ˈvɪərkoʊ, ˈfɪərxoʊ/; German: [ˈfɪʁço] or [ˈvɪʁço]; 13 October 1821 – 5 September 1902) was a German physician, scientist, writer, and politician. He is most known for his cell theory, which states that new cells appear as the result of the division of pre-existing cells, Omnis cellula e cellula ("all cells (come) from cells").
Virchow is credited as the founder of social medicine. He believed that social factors such as poverty are major causes of diseases.
One of Virchow's major contributions was to encourage the use of microscopes by medical students, and he was known for constantly urging his students to "think microscopically".
Contents
Early life
Virchow was born in Schievelbein, in eastern Pomerania, Prussia (now Świdwin, Poland). He was the only child of Carl Christian Siegfried Virchow (1785–1865) and Johanna Maria née Hesse (1785–1857). His father was a farmer and the city treasurer. Virchow was top of the class and progressed to the gymnasium in Köslin (now Koszalin in Poland) in 1835 with the goal of becoming a pastor. He graduated in 1839. However, he chose medicine mainly because he considered his voice too weak for preaching.
Scientific career
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In 1840, Virchow received a scholarship to study medicine at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin (now Humboldt University of Berlin). He published his first scientific paper in 1845. In 1846, Virchow passed the medical licensure examination and was appointed to his first academic position with the rank of privatdozent.
The Prussian government employed Virchow to study the typhus epidemic in Upper Silesia in 1847–1848. Even though he was not particularly successful in combating the epidemic, his 190-paged report became a turning point in politics and public health in Germany. In it, he states that the outbreak could not be solved by treating individual patients with medicines or with minor changes in food, housing, or clothing laws, but only through radical action to promote the advancement of an entire population, which could be achieved only by "full and unlimited democracy" and "education, freedom and prosperity".
He returned to Berlin on 10 March 1848, and only eight days later, a revolution broke out against the government in which he played an active part. To fight political injustice he helped found Die Medizinische Reform (Medical Reform), a weekly newspaper for promoting social medicine, in July of that year. The newspaper ran under the banners "medicine is a social science" and "the physician is the natural attorney of the poor". Political pressures forced him to terminate the publication in June 1849, and he was expelled from his official position.
In November 1848, he was given an academic appointment and left Berlin for the University of Würzburg. During his six-year period there, he concentrated on his scientific work. In 1856, he returned to Berlin to become the newly created Chair for Pathological Anatomy and Physiology at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, as well as Director of the newly built Institute for Pathology on the premises of the Charité. He held the latter post for the next 20 years.
Virchow developed an interest in anthropology in 1865, when he discovered pile dwellings in northern Germany. In 1869, he co-founded the German Anthropological Association. In 1870 he founded the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology, and Prehistory (Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte). Until his death, Virchow was several times (at least fifteen times) its president. As president, Virchow frequently contributed to and co-edited the society's main journal Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (Journal of Ethnology).
In 1870, he led a major excavation of the hill forts in Pomerania. He also excavated wall mounds in Wöllstein in 1875 with Robert Koch, whose paper he edited on the subject. For his contributions in German archaeology, the Rudolf Virchow lecture is held annually in his honour. He made field trips to Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Egypt, Nubia, and other places, sometimes in the company of Heinrich Schliemann. His 1879 journey to the site of Troy is described in Beiträge zur Landeskunde in Troas ("Contributions to the knowledge of the landscape in Troy", 1879) and Alttrojanische Gräber und Schädel ("Old Trojan graves and skulls", 1882).
Discoveries
Virchow is credited with several key discoveries.
- He was the first to correctly link the origin of cancers from otherwise normal cells. In 1855, he suggested that cancers arise from the activation of dormant cells (perhaps similar to cells now known as stem cells) present in mature tissue. Virchow believed that cancer is caused by severe irritation in the tissues, and his theory came to be known as chronic irritation theory. He made a crucial observation that certain cancers (carcinoma in the modern sense) were inherently associated with white blood cells (which are now called macrophages) that produced irritation (inflammation). It was only towards the end of the 20th century that Virchow's theory was taken seriously. It was realised that specific cancers (including those of mesothelioma, lung, prostate, bladder, pancreatic, cervical, esophageal, melanoma, and head and neck) are indeed strongly associated with long-term inflammation.
- Virchow is known as the founder of cellular pathology.
- He was the first to establish a link between infectious diseases between humans and animals.
- His work on the life cycle of a roundworm Trichinella spiralis led to the establishment of meat inspection. Virchow established that human roundworm infection occurs via contaminated pork. He further demonstrated that if the infected meat is first heated to 137 °F for 10 minutes, the worms could not infect dogs or humans.
- Virchow was the first to develop a systematic method of autopsy. The modern autopsy still constitutes his techniques. His book was the first to describe the techniques of autopsy specifically to examine abnormalities in organs, and retain important tissues for further examination and demonstration. Unlike any other earlier practitioner, he practiced complete surgery of all body parts with body organs dissected one by one. This has become the standard method.
- Virchow was the first to analyse hair in criminal investigation, and made the first forensic report on it in 1861.
Politics
Virchow was an impassioned advocate for social and political reform. In 1859, he became a member of the Municipal Council of Berlin and began his career as a civic reformer. Elected to the Prussian Diet in 1862, he became leader of the Radical or Progressive party; and from 1880 to 1893, he was a member of the Reichstag. He worked to improve healthcare conditions for Berlin citizens, especially by working towards modern water and sewer systems.
Personal life
On 24 August 1850 in Berlin, Virchow married Ferdinande Rosalie Mayer (29 February 1832 – 21 February 1913), a liberal's daughter. They had three sons and three daughters:
- Karl Virchow (1 August 1851 – 21 September 1912), a chemist
- Hans Virchow (10 September 1852 – 7 April 1940), an anatomist
- Adele Virchow (1 October 1855 – 18 May 1955), the wife of Rudolf Henning, a professor of German studies
- Ernst Virchow (24 January 1858 – 5 April 1942)
- Marie Virchow (29 June 1866 – 23 October 1951), the editor of Rudolf Virchow, Briefe an Seine Eltern, 1839 bis 1864 (published in 1906) and the wife of Carl Rabl, an Austrian anatomist
- Hanna Elisabeth Maria Virchow (10 May 1873 – 28 November 1963)
Death
Virchow broke his thigh bone on 4 January 1902, jumping off a running streetcar while exiting the electric tramway. Although he anticipated full recovery, the fractured femur never healed, and restricted his physical activity. His health gradually deteriorated and he died of heart failure after eight months, on 5 September 1902, in Berlin. A state funeral was held on 9 September in the Assembly Room of the Magistracy in the Berlin Town Hall. He was buried in the Alter St.-Matthäus-Kirchhof in Schöneberg, Berlin. His tomb was shared by his wife on 21 February 1913.
Collections and Foundations
Rudolf Virchow was also a collector. Several museums in Berlin emerged from Virchow's collections: the Märkisches Museum, the Museum of Prehistory and Early History, the Ethnological Museum and the Museum of Medical History. In addition, Virchow's collection of anatomical specimens from numerous European and non-European populations, which still exists today, deserves special mention. The collection is owned by the Berlin Society for Anthropology and Prehistory.
Honours and legacy
- In June 1859, Virchow was elected to Berlin Chamber of Representatives.
- In 1860, he was elected official Member of the Königliche Wissenschaftliche Deputation für das Medizinalwesen (Royal Scientific Board for Medical Affairs).
- In 1861, he was elected foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
- In 1862, he was elected as an international Member of the American Philosophical Society.
- In March 1862, he was elected to the Prussian House of Representatives.
- In 1873, he was elected to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. He declined to be ennobled as "von Virchow," he was nonetheless designated Geheimrat ("privy councillor") in 1894.
- In 1880, he was elected member of the Reichstag of the German Empire.
- In 1881, Rudolf-Virchow-Foundation was established on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
- In 1892, he was appointed Rector of the Berlin University.
- In 1892, he was awarded the British Royal Society's Copley Medal.
- The Rudolf Virchow Center, a biomedical research center in the University of Würzburg was established in January 2002.
- Rudolf Virchow Award is given by the Society for Medical Anthropology for research achievements in medical anthropology.
- Rudolf Virchow lecture, an annual public lecture, is organised by the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, for eminent scientists in the field of palaeolithic archaeology.
- Rudolf Virchow Medical Society is based in New York, and offers Rudolf Virchow Medal.
- Campus Virchow Klinikum (CVK) is the name of a campus of Charité hospital in Berlin.
- The Rudolf Virchow Monument, a muscular limestone statue, was erected in 1910 at Karlplatz in Berlin.
- Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus was built in 1915 in Berlin, jointly honouring Virchow and Bernhard von Langenbeck. Originally a medical centre, the building is now used as conference centre of the German Surgical Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chirurgie) and the Berlin Medical Association (BMG-Berliner Medizinische Gesellschaft).
- The Rudolf Virchow Study Center is instituted by the European University Viadrina for compiling of the complete works of Virchow.
- Virchow Hill in Antarctica is named after Rudolf Virchow.
Works
Virchow produced more than 2000 works, the most famous of them are a six-volume Handbuch der speciellen Pathologie und Therapie (Handbook on Special Pathology and Therapeutics) (1854) and Cellular Pathology (1858), regarded as the basis of modern medical science.
Interesting facts about Rudolf Virchow
- Virchow was fluent in German, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, English, Arabic, French, Italian and Dutch.
- He is often referred to as the "Pope of medicine".
- Virchow was the first to describe and name diseases such as leukemia, chordoma, ochronosis, embolism, and thrombosis.
- Terms such as Virchow's node, Virchow–Robin spaces, Virchow–Seckel syndrome, and Virchow's triad are named after him.
- Virchow was an opponent of Darwin's theory of evolution. He advocated against teaching it in schools, arguing that "it is quite certain that man did not descend from the apes."
Rudolf Virchow quotes
- "Only those who regard healing as the ultimate goal of their efforts can, therefore, be designated as physicians."
- "Belief has no place as far as science reaches, and may be first permitted to take root where science stops."
- "Medical education does not exist to provide students with a way of making a living, but to ensure the health of the community."
- The physicians are the natural attorneys of the poor, and the social problems should largely be solved by them."
- "The body is a cell state in which every cell is a citizen. Disease is merely the conflict of the citizens of the state brought about by the action of external forces."
See also
In Spanish: Rudolf Virchow para niños
