Robert Remak: biography of this researcher

Robert Remak had enough bad luck in life if we are one of those who see the glass half empty. The fact of being Jewish and having to compete against one of the greats such as Rudolf Virchow did not benefit him at all in his attempt to be a university professor.

But, although his wish to be a professor at the highest German institution of his time was denied, his great discoveries in the field of embryology, physiology and neurology make Remak a figure for nothing obviable.

The life of this Pole of Jewish origin in the German society of the 19th century was not easy, but it cannot be said that his history was erased either, and here we will know it through a condensed biography of Robert Remak.

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Brief biography of Robert Remak

Neurologist, physiologist, embryologist, histologist and mycologist are the five words that can define Remak in the professional field. His findings greatly changed the perception of how living beings were formed, especially vertebrates.

, in addition to describing the structure of the nervous system and how cells originated from other pre-existing ones. The list of his contributions is extensive, and it is not surprising since, since he was rejected on multiple occasions to be a university professor, he dedicated all his time to research.

early years

Robert Remak was born in Posen, Germany (present-day Poznań, Poland) between July 26 and 30, 1815.. He was born into a family of Orthodox Jews strongly identified with Polish culture, he being the eldest of five children.

The first years of his education were spent at home, but later he would go to the Poznań City High School. Despite his interest in studies and being an excellent student, he had to interrupt his education for a year because his health, very fragile, worsened and he had to rest. Fortunately, he recovered and, later, he would study at the Polish Gymnasium in Poznan.

University education

Having reached the age of 18, he left for Berlin. to study at the University of the German capital. The Berlin of the 19th century was already pointing ways as the cultural, scientific and philosophical center that it would end up being in a few years. It was the scientific Mecca for any German citizen interested in pursuing university studies, being the case of Remak, who would study medicine in such a nerve-racking city.

in college He was fortunate to have great figures of German science of the time as teachers, such as the physiologist Johannes Müller and the naturalist C.G. ehrenberg. Both professors were very fond of the microscopy technique, inviting Remak to start studying samples of tissues and cells at his own expense, both to satisfy his curiosity and to expand his knowledge. Thus, he would begin to study this discipline even before finishing his medical degree.

The first thing he studied with this instrument were the ganglion cells and nerve fibers of invertebrates.. From his findings he would publish his first work on the structure of nerve tissue in 1836, when he was only 21 years old.

In 1838 he would publish his thesis Observations anatomicae et microscopicae de systematis nervosi structure, a text in which he demonstrated the existence of a cylinder-shaped structure that he called “primitive band”. This same band had been called cylinder-axis by the anatomist Johannes Evangelista Purkinje. With his microscope Remak too observed spinal cord nerve fibers in the sympathetic nervous system, which he referred to as the "organic nervous system.".

Remak's life not only highlights the great and important scientific findings of him having barely turned 30 years old. He also carried out an important task giving prestige to his mother tongue, since he himself translated his thesis into Polish, helping to establish a new medical nomenclature in this Slavic language. Despite being widely spoken, it was a very minority language compared to German, considered an important language for popular science.

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Early professional years

After finishing his training, Robert Remak ended up in the laboratory of Johannes Müller, working in it. He also offered private microscopy classes and entered clinical practice. With these works he earned his living since, although his intellect and his early findings were impressive, his status as a Jew hindered him from being a university professor in a very anti-Semitic Germany, even in the most cultural and scientific circles moderate.

Given the religious and ethnic discrimination of 19th century Germany, Remak considered going to Paris. He reflected strongly on this idea, however, the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt convinced him to stay and continue his research. Thanks to this, in 1839 he discovered ganglion cells in the right atrium of the frog, giving life to the neurogenic doctrine of cardiac contraction. Later he would find nerve fibers in the lung, larynx, pharynx, and tongue, and also in the wall of the urinary bladder.

In 1840 he focused on the study of the so-called organic nervous system, both from a histological and a physiological point of view. A year later he would publish his results in the form of articles, composing the Encyclopädische Wörterbuch der medicinischen Wissenschaften (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Medical Sciences).

He would publish in the "Medizinische Zeitung his study Über die Entstehung der Blutkörperchen" (On the formation of blood cells), in which he was talking about how blood cells divided and multiplied. Basically, in this article he shows his rejection of the theory still very widespread in his time that cells could be generated from a more or less homogeneous elemental substance.

New opportunities

The 1840s seemed to be a time of sociopolitical change in Prussia, since that same year Federico Guillermo IV occupied the throne and, with him, a greater tolerance towards the Jews, or in principle that was the idea. Taking advantage of this, Robert Remak, through the help of the Minister of Education and appearing before the monarch himself, asked him to name him "Dozent" so that he could teach at the university. Unfortunately, he did not approve his request.

robert remack he was forced to continue in the field of research, this time working as an assistant in the laboratory of Johann Lucas Schönlein. In that laboratory Remak did clinical research, collected in the book "Diagnostische und pathogenetische Untersuchungen" (Diagnostics and pathological studies, 1845). He also continued his work on embryology and on the structure of the nervous system.

Although frustrated by not being able to be a university professor, he knew how to channel his anger and anger into something productive. and, as a result, he discovered that the deepest germinal layer in the embryo has its origin in the epithelium. He also demonstrated cell division in the embryonic origin of primitive muscle bundles and discovered cylinder-axis fibrils.

Fortunately, His luck changed in 1847, for that year he was appointed Lecturer Professor at the University of Berlin., with the support of Schönlein and Humboldt. Although it was a minor position, this did not prevent it from generating significant media coverage, since Robert Remak was the first Jew to occupy such a position in such an institution. Thanks to this he gained a lot of popularity within the scientific community. As the icing on the cake, it would be that same year that he would marry Feodore Meyer.

Although his dream of being a university professor had been achieved, although not completely, he did not leave the field of research. He continued with his studies in medicine, especially in the germinal layer and the development of vertebrates. In 1850 he would publish the first part of his studies on these two topics, in addition to discussing the possibility that the cells of fertilized chicken eggs divide continuously.

Advances in cell theory

In 1851 he discovered that the organs in which the senses sit, such as the eyes, ears, skin, and so on, are formed from the ectoderm. A year later he would publish in the Müller archives his own doctrine of cell division, noting that cells multiply by excision from their nucleus, not from parental protoplasm. This is, indeed, one of the great scientific advances in modern times, as it culminated the cell theory as we know it today.

With this cell theory, Remak refuted Theodor Schwann about the exogenous origin of cells. Remak, as we know today, considered that animal and plant cells have a unique intracellular origin, and that all animal cells arose from embryonic cells by division progressive. in 1852 he reaffirmed all this by publishing an article in which he argued that cells, by necessity, had to arise from other cells., either by division or by division.

In 1855 he completed his embryological work by publishing "Untersuchungen über die Entwickelung der Wirbelthiere" (Investigations into the development of vertebrates). He would simplify the theory of germ sheets and it would be he himself who would introduce the terms "ectoderm", "mesoderm" and "endoderm". It would be in that same year that he would publish his first work on neurology, Über methodische Electrisierung gelähmter Muskeln (On the methodical electrification of paralyzed muscles).

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Last years

In 1856 he would break ties with the university since he was denied the position of professor of pathological anatomy. Already quite fed up that, despite having been an excellent researcher and a great student in the same institution was barely allowed anything, he decided to continue with clinical practice and divulging, posting Galvanotherapie der Nerven und Muskelnkrakheiten, (Galvanotherapy in diseases of nerves and muscles) that he dedicated to Humboldt.

However, in 1859 he would be associated with the university again, since he was appointed assistant professor of the institution. This did not prevent him from becoming frustrated and disenchanted with the academic world and, coupled with his failing health, Robert Remak he would end up dying a few years later, on August 29, 1865 at the age of 50. He died while undergoing a rest cure and his cause of death was probably general sepsis secondary to diabetes.

Bibliographic references:

• Albarracín Teulón, A (1983). The cell theory. Madrid, Spain: Alliance.
• Anderson, C.T. (1986) Robert Remak and the multinucleated cell: eliminating a barrier to the acceptance of cell division. Bull Hist Med.;60(4):523-43.
• Hamburger, V. (1988). Ontogeny of neuroembryology. J Neurosci ;8(10):3535-40.
• Lagunoff, D (2002). Portraits of science. A Polish, Jewish scientist in 19th-century Prussia. Science. 20; 298(5602):2331.
• Lain Entralgo, P. (1963) History of modern and contemporary medicine. 2nd ed., Barcelona, ​​Interamericana.