Max (Johann Sigismund) Schultze

Zoologist, born in Freiburg, SW Germany. He studied at Greifswald and Berlin, and taught zoology at Bonn from 1859. His best-known work is on unicellular organisms. In 1861 he argued that cells in general contain a nucleus and protoplasm as ‘the basis of life’ and that a boundary membrane is not always present. His duplicity theory of vision of 1866, based on his study of the retina of birds, ascribed separate functions to the retinal rods and cones, and was a step towards later theories of vision.

Max Johann Sigismund Schultze (March 25, 1825 - January 16, 1874), German microscopic anatomist, was born at Freiburg in Breisgau (Baden). His works included:

Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte der Turbellarien (1851) Uber den Organismus der Polythalamien (1854) Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Landplanarien (1857) Zur Kenntnis der elektrischen Organe der Fische (1858) Ein heizbarer Objecttisch und seine Verwendung bei Untersuchungen des Blutes (1865, in which the first known description of the platelet) Zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Retitia (1866)

His name is especially known for his work on the cell theory. Uniting Félix Dujardin's conception of animal sarcode with Hugo von Mohl's of vegetable protoplasma, he pointed out their identity, and included them under the common name of protoplasm, defining the cell as a nucleated mass of protoplasm with or without a cell-wall (Das Protoplasma der Rhizopoden und der Pflanzenzellen; ein Beiträg zur Theorie der Zelle, 1863).