Karl Weigert, Carl Weigert (19 March 1845 in
Münsterberg in
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...
– 5 August 1904 in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
) was a German
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
pathologist
Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in t ...
. His nephew was
Fritz Weigert
Fritz Weigert (18 September 1876 – 13 April 1947) was a German physical chemist. Weigert has made major contributions in the field of photochemistry. He was born in Berlin. He was the nephew of both Karl Weigert and Paul Ehrlich. He was married ...
and his cousin was
Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure ...
.
He received his education at the universities of
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, and
Breslau, graduating in 1868. After having taken part in the
Franco-Prussian war as assistant surgeon, he settled in Breslau, and for the following two years, was an assistant to
Heinrich Waldeyer; from 1870 to 1874 to
Hermann Lebert, and then to
Julius Cohnheim, who he followed to the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
in 1878. There he became an associate professor of pathology in 1879. In 1884, he was appointed professor of pathological anatomy at the
Senkenbergsche Stiftung in
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...
, and received the title of "Geheimer Medizinal-Rat" in 1899. He is buried in
Old Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt (Juedischer Friedhof Rat-Beil-Straße).
Weigert assisted Cohnheim in many of his researches, and wrote much on the
staining
Staining is a technique used to enhance contrast in samples, generally at the microscopic level. Stains and dyes are frequently used in histology (microscopic study of biological tissues), in cytology (microscopic study of cells), and in ...
of
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...
in
microscopy
Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of mi ...
. In 1884, he introduced a precise method for staining
myelin sheaths
Myelin is a lipid-rich material that surrounds nerve cell axons (the nervous system's "wires") to insulate them and increase the rate at which electrical impulses (called action potentials) are passed along the axon. The myelinated axon can be l ...
. He is credited with the discovery of vascular
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...
, and was the first to demonstrate how tuberculous material could enter the bloodstream.
Professorenkatalog der Universität Leipzig
(biography)
He contributed many essays to medical journals. Among his works are:
* "Zur Anatomie der Pocken" (Breslau, 1874).
* "Färbung der Bacterien mit Anilinfarben" (ib. 1875).
* "Nephritis" (Leipzig, 1879).
* "Fibrinfärbung" (1886).
* "Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Normalen Menschlichen Neuroglia" (Frankfort am Main, 1895).
* "Elastische Fasern" (ib. 1898).
Bibliography
* Pagel, J. L., ''Biog. Lex. s.v.'', Vienna, 1901;
* ''Oesterreichische Wochenschrift'', 1904, pp. 533, 534
References
External links
*''Jewish Encyclopedia''
"Weigert, Karl"
by Isidore Singer & Frederick Haneman (1906).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weigert, Karl
1845 births
1904 deaths
19th-century German physicians
German pathologists
Silesian Jews
People from Ziębice
People from the Province of Silesia
Burials at the Old Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt