Max Johann Sigismund Schultze (25 March 1825 – 16 January 1874) was a German microscopic
anatomist noted for his work on
cell theory
In biology, cell theory is a scientific theory first formulated in the mid-nineteenth century, that living organisms are made up of cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cells come from pre ...
.
Biography
Schultze was born in
Freiburg im Breisgau
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as ...
(Baden). He studied medicine at
Greifswald
Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (german: Universitäts- und Hansestadt Greifswald, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rosto ...
and
Berlin, and was appointed an associate professor of anatomy at
Halle in 1854. Five years later he became a full professor of anatomy and
histology
Histology,
also known as microscopic anatomy or microanatomy, is the branch of biology which studies the microscopic anatomy of biological tissues. Histology is the microscopic counterpart to gross anatomy, which looks at larger structures vis ...
and director of the Anatomical Institute at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...
. He died in Bonn on 16 January 1874; his successor at the anatomical institute being
Adolph von La Valette-St. George. He was the older brother of
obstetrician
Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...
Bernhard Sigmund Schultze (1827–1919).
He founded, in 1865, and edited the important "''Archiv für mikroskopische Anatomie''", to which he contributed many papers, and he advanced the subject generally, by refining on its technical methods. 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'',
(In 1865 Schultze provided the first accurate description of the
platelet
Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby in ...
).
*''Zur Anatomie und Physiologie der Retina'' (1866).
His name is especially known for his work on
cell theory
In biology, cell theory is a scientific theory first formulated in the mid-nineteenth century, that living organisms are made up of cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cells come from pre ...
. 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
Protoplasm (; ) is the living part of a cell that is surrounded by a plasma membrane. It is a mixture of small molecules such as ions, monosaccharides, amino acid, and macromolecules such as proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, etc.
In some defini ...
, defining the cell as a nucleated mass of protoplasm with or without a
cell wall
A cell wall is a structural layer surrounding some types of cells, just outside the cell membrane. It can be tough, flexible, and sometimes rigid. It provides the cell with both structural support and protection, and also acts as a filtering mec ...
(''Das Protoplasma der Rhizopoden und der Pflanzenzellen; ein Beiträg zur Theorie der Zelle'', 1863).
Schultze studied medicine with the naturalist
Fritz Müller
Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller (31 March 1822 – 21 May 1897), better known as Fritz Müller, and also as Müller-Desterro, was a German biologist who emigrated to southern Brazil, where he lived in and near the German community of Blumenau, ...
, a German biologist and doctor who became a naturalized Brazilian. It was mainly because of his friendship and correspondence with Schultze that Müller to some extent was able to follow the debate in Europe about
Darwin's theory of evolution. Schultze periodically sent him scientific literature, among which was Darwin's ''
On the Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'', and a small microscope manufactured in Berlin, by Friedrich Wilhelm Schiek (1857). Thanks to this microscope, Müller hypothesized from his own studies that "all higher Crustacea probably will be traceable to a
Zoea
Crustaceans may pass through a number of larval and immature stages between hatching from their eggs and reaching their adult form. Each of the stages is separated by a moult, in which the hard exoskeleton is shed to allow the animal to grow. The ...
ancestor". Based on these studies Müller also wrote his book ''Für Darwin'', in defense of Darwin's theories, corroborating the theory of natural selection.
Swedish pathologist
Axel Key studied under Schultze from 1860 to 1861 in Bonn.
See also
*
Schultze reagent
References
Sources
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schultze, Max
1825 births
1874 deaths
19th-century German zoologists
German anatomists
German microbiologists
Scientists from Freiburg im Breisgau
University of Greifswald alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
University of Halle faculty
University of Bonn faculty
People from the Grand Duchy of Baden