Rudolf (Carl) Virchow - Scientific career, Political career, Reference

Physician, politician, anthropologist, and founder of cellular pathology, born in Swidwin, NW Poland (formerly Schivelbein, Germany). He studied medicine at Berlin, and became professor of pathological anatomy at Würzburg (1849) and Berlin (1856). His Cellularpathologie (1858) confirmed Remak's observation that all cells derive from a pre-existing cell, and established the importance of cellular pathology. He contributed to the study of tumours, leukaemia, hygiene, and sanitation. As a Liberal member of the Reichstag (1880–93), he was an opponent of Bismarck. A co-founder of the German Anthropological Society (1869), he was largely responsible for the growth of anthropology in Germany.

Scientific career

From a farming family of relatively modest means, Virchow studied medicine in Berlin at the military academy of Prussia on a scholarship. In 1856, he returned to Berlin as a professor of anatomic pathology (a chair created just for him) at Berlin University and the Berlin Charité where he had previously worked as Froriep's assistant.

Virchow is credited with multiple significant discoveries. Virchow is also famous for elucidating the mechanism of pulmonary thromboembolism, thus coining the term embolism. Related to this research Virchow has been attributed a triad describing the factors contributing to venous thrombosis, Virchow's triad. Virchow founded the medical disciplines of cellular pathology, comparative pathology (comparison of diseases common to humans and animals) and anthropology. His very innovative work may be viewed as sitting between that of Morgagni whose work Virchow studied and that of Paul Ehrlich, who studied at the Charité while Virchow was developing microscopic pathology there.

Political career

Virchow also worked as a politician (member of the Berlin City Council, the Prussian parliament since 1861, German Reichstag 1880-1893) to improve the health care conditions for the Berlin citizens, namely working towards modern water and sewer systems. Virchow is also credited with the founding of "social medicine", frequently focusing on the fact that disease is never purely biological, but often, socially derived. It was during the discussion of Falk’s May Laws (Maigesetze) that Virchow first used the term

The general ideological enthusiasm among the liberals for the Kulturkampf was in contrast to Bismarck's pragmatic attitude towards the measures and growing disquiet from the Conservatives..

Virchow was respected in masonic circles, and according to one source may have been a freemason, though no official record of this has been found. Pagel, Rudolf Virchow, Leipzig, (1906)

Reference

A biography of Virchow at Whonamedit.com, including phenomena named after him

Virchow, RLK (1978) Cellular pathology.

^ "This anti-Catholic crusade was also taken up by the Progressives, especially Rudolf Virchow, though Richter himself was tepid in his occasional support." Authentic German Liberalism of the 19th Century by Ralph Raico ^ "The term came into use in 1873, when the scientist and Prussian liberal statesman Rudolf Virchow declared that the battle with the Roman Catholics was assuming “the character of a great struggle in the interest of humanity.”" from Kulturkampf. Retrieved March 25, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica ^ A leading German anthropologist, Rudolf Virchow, characterized Bismarck's struggle with the Catholic Church as a Kulturkampf - a fight for culture - by which Virchow meant a fight for liberal, rational principles against the dead weight of medieval traditionalism, obscurantism, and authoritarianism." - a name, originating with Virchow (1821 - 1902), given to a struggle between the Roman Catholic Church and the German government" Kulturkampf in freedict.co.uk ^ "Liberals were the most enthusiastic champions of the general policy, because it satisfied a tradition of passionate anti-clericalism. It was, in fact, a Progressive party deputy in the Prussian legislature - the distinguished medical scientist and pioneer of public health methods, Rudolf Virchow - who coined the term Kulturkampf to describe the stakes. Virchow meant it as a term of praise, signifying the liberation of public life from sectarian impositions (though the term was later taken up by Catholic leaders in a spirit of bitter derision)." From A Supreme Court in the culture wars by Jeremy Rabkin in the Fall edition of the Public Interest ^ "Even Bismarck - who initially saw a variety of tactical political advantages in these measures - took pains to distance himself from the rigors of their enforcement." From A Supreme Court in the culture wars by Jeremy Rabkin in the Fall edition of the Public Interest ^ "Conservative political forces, centering on the old Prussian aristocracy, became increasingly critical of these measures, fearing that they would jeopardize the status of their own Protestant Evangelical Church."From A Supreme Court in the culture wars by Jeremy Rabkin in the Fall edition of the Public Interest ^ "Rizal's Berlin associates, or perhaps the word "patrons" would give their relation better, were men as esteemed in Masonry as they were eminent in the scientific world--Virchow, for example." in JOSE RIZAL AS A MASON by AUSTIN CRAIG, The Builder Magazine, August 1916 - Volume II - Number 8 ^ "It was a heady atmosphere for the young Brother, and Masons in Germany, Dr. Rudolf Virchow and Dr. Feodor Jagor, were instrumental in his becoming a member of the Berlin Ethnological and Anthropological Societies."