Rudolf Albert von Kölliker | |
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| Born | Rudolf Albert Kölliker (1817-07-06)6 July 1817 |
| Died | 2 November 1905(1905-11-02) (aged 88) |
| Alma mater | University of Zurich University of Bonn University of Berlin |
| Known for | Contributions tozoology |
| Awards | Copley Medal(1897) Linnean Medal(1902) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Anatomy,physiology |
| Doctoral advisor | Johannes Peter Müller Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle |
Albert von Kölliker (bornRudolf Albert Kölliker; 6 July 1817 – 2 November 1905) was aSwissanatomist,physiologist, andhistologist.
Albert Kölliker was born inZürich,Switzerland. His early education was carried on in Zürich, and he entered the university there in 1836. After two years, however, he moved to theUniversity of Bonn, and later to that ofBerlin, becoming a pupil of noted physiologistsJohannes Peter Müller and ofFriedrich Gustav Jakob Henle. In 1841,he graduated inphilosophy at Zürich, and in medicine atHeidelberg in 1842 The first academic post which he held was that ofprosector ofanatomy under Henle, but the tenure of this office was brief – in 1844 he returned to University of Zurich to occupy a chair as professor extraordinary ofphysiology andcomparative anatomy. His stay here was also brief; in 1847 theUniversity of Würzburg, attracted by his rising fame, offered him the post of professor of physiology and of microscopical and comparative anatomy. He accepted the appointment, and at Würzburg he remained thenceforth, refusing all offers tempting him to leave the quiet academic life of theBavarian town, where he died.[1]
Many of the numerous memoirs which he published, (including the very first paper he wrote) and which appeared in 1841, before he graduated, were on the structure of animals of the most varied kinds. Notable among these were his papers on theMedusae and allied creatures. His activity in this direction led him to makezoological excursions to theMediterranean Sea and to the coasts ofScotland, as well as to undertake, conjointly with his friendCarl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, the editorship of theZeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, which, founded in 1848, continued under his hands to be one of the most important zoological periodicals.[2]
His hand was one of the first to be x-rayed, by his friendWilhelm Röntgen.[3]
Kölliker made contributions to the study ofzoology. His earlier efforts were directed to theinvertebrates, and his memoir on the development ofcephalopods (which appeared in 1844) is considered a classical work. He soon passed on to thevertebrates, and studied theamphibians andmammalianembryos. He was among the first, if not the very first, to introduce into this branch of biological inquiry the newermicroscopic technique – the methods of hardening, sectioning andstaining. Much of the progress whichembryology made during the middle and latter half of the 19th century are associated with his name.[citation needed] HisLectures on Development, published in 1861, at once became a standard work.[2]
But neither zoology nor embryology furnished Kölliker's chief claim to fame. If he did much for these branches of science, he did still more forhistology, the knowledge of the minute structure of the animaltissues. Among his earlier results was the demonstration in 1847 thatsmooth or unstriated muscle is made up of distinct units, of nucleated muscle cells. In this work, he followed in the footsteps of his master Henle. A few years before this, there was doubt whetherarteries had muscle in their walls – in addition, no solid histological basis as yet existed for those views as to the action of thenervous system on thecirculation, which were soon to be put forward, and which had such a great influence on the progress of physiology.[2]
Kölliker's contributions to histology were widespread;smooth muscle,striated muscle,skin,bone,teeth,blood vessels andviscera were all investigated by Kölliker. The results at which he arrived were recorded partly in separate memoirs, partly in his great textbook on microscopical anatomy, which first saw the light in 1850.[2]
Albert L. Lehninger asserted that Kölliker was among the first to notice the arrangement of granules in thesarcoplasm of striated muscle over a period of years beginning around 1850. These granules were later called sarcosomes byRetzius in 1890. These sarcosomes have come to be known as themitochondria-the power houses of the cell. In the words of Lehninger, "Kölliker should also be credited with the first separation of mitochondria from cell structure. In 1888 he teased these granules from insect muscle, in which they are very profuse, found them to swell in water, and showed them to possess amembrane."[citation needed]
In the case of almost every tissue, our present knowledge contains information first discovered by Kölliker – it is for his work on thenervous system that his name is most remembered. As early as 1845, while still at Zürich, he supplied a clear proof thatnerve fibers are continuous withnerve cells, and laying the groundwork for all later research as to the actions of thecentral nervous system.[2]
From that time onward he continually laboured at the histology of the nervous system, and more especially at the difficult problems presented by the intricate patterns in whichnerve fibers andneurons are woven together in thebrain andspinal cord. From his early days a master of method, he saw at a glance the value of the newGolgi staining method for the investigation of the central nervous system. Kölliker contributed greatly to knowledge of the inner structure of thebrain.[2][4] In 1889, he reproduces the histological preparations of the father of neuroscienceRamón y Cajal and confirmed the theory of neuronism.
Kölliker was ennobled byprince regentLuitpold of Bavaria in 1897 and thus permitted to add the predicate "von" to his surname.[citation needed] He was made a member of the learned societies of many countries; inEngland, which he visited more than once, and where he became well known, theRoyal Society made him a fellow in 1860, and in 1897 gave him its highest token of esteem, theCopley medal.[2] In 1897, he was named an honorary member of theAmerican Association for Anatomy.
[5]A species of lizard,Hyalosaurus koellikeri, is named in his honor.[6]
In 1864 Kölliker revivedÉtienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire's theory thatevolution proceeds by large steps (saltationism), under the name of heterogenesis.[8] Kölliker was a critic ofDarwinism and rejected auniversal common ancestor, instead he supported a theory ofcommon descent along separate lines.[9] According toAlexander Vucinich the non-Darwinian evolution theory of Kölliker tied "organic transformism to three general ideas, all contrary to Darwin's view: the multiple origin of living forms, the internal causes of variation, and "sudden leaps" (heterogenesis) in the evolutionary process."[10]Kölliker claimed that heterogenesis functioned according to a general law of evolutionary progress,orthogenesis.[11]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Foster, Michael (1911). "Kölliker, Rudolph Albert von". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 889–890.
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