Johannes Ranke (23 August 1836,

Thurnau Thurnau is a municipality in the district Kulmbach, Germany. It is known for golfing as well as its potteries. Thurnau is known for transmitter Thurnau, the medium wave transmission site for Deutschlandfunk, a German national information radio ...

– 26 July 1916,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

) was a German

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

and anthropologist. He was the son of

theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

Friedrich Heinrich Ranke Friedrich Heinrich Ranke (30 November 1798 – 2 September 1876) was a German Protestant theologian. He was the brother of historian Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) and the father of pediatrician Heinrich von Ranke (1830-1909) and anthropologist ...

(1798–1876), the brother of

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

Heinrich von Ranke Heinrich von Ranke (8 May 1830, Rückersdorf – 13 May 1909, Munich) was a German physiologist and pediatrician. He was the son of theologian Friedrich Heinrich Ranke (1798-1876) and the brother of anthropologist Johannes Ranke (1836-1916) ...

(1830–1909) and father to

pulmonologist Pulmonology (, , from Latin ''pulmō, -ōnis'' "lung" and the Greek suffix "study of"), pneumology (, built on Greek πνεύμων "lung") or pneumonology () is a medical specialty that deals with diseases involving the respiratory tract.

Karl Ernst Ranke Karl Ernst Ranke (29 January 1870 in Munich – 9 November 1926 in Munich) was a German internist, pediatrician and pulmonologist known for his research of tuberculosis. He was the son of anthropologist Johannes Ranke (1836–1916). In 1896 h ...

(1870–1926).

Biography

He studied medicine and natural sciences in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thre ...

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 ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, receiving his medical doctorate from the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

in 1861. As a student, his influences included pathologist

Rudolf Virchow Rudolf Ludwig Carl Virchow (; or ; 13 October 18215 September 1902) was a German physician, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist, writer, editor, and politician. He is known as "the father of modern pathology" and as the founde ...

and

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...

Justus von Liebig Justus Freiherr von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 20 April 1873) was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biology, biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a profess ...

. In 1863 he obtained his habilitation with the thesis, ''Galvanischen Leitungswiderstand des lebenden Muskels'', and spent the following years conducting physiological studies on

tetanus Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by '' Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usuall ...

and human

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficien ...

. In 1868 he published a textbook on human physiology, titled ''Grundzüge der Physiologie des Menschen''.Ranke, Johannes
at Deutsche Biographie As a lecturer at the anatomical-physiological institute in Munich, he gave lectures on anthropology and general natural history (1863–69). He became an associate professor on the latter subject in 1869. From 1876 onward, his interests dealt almost entirely with problems associated with prehistory and anthropology. He made numerous contributions in his research of the physical anthropology associated with prehistoric

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, being especially interested in studies of human skull forms. From his anthropological research, he was opposed to the racial ideology theories espoused by

Arthur de Gobineau Joseph Arthur de Gobineau (; 14 July 1816 – 13 October 1882) was a French aristocrat who is best known for helping to legitimise racism by the use of scientific racist theory and "racial demography", and for developing the theory of the Ary ...

and

Houston Stewart Chamberlain Houston Stewart Chamberlain (; 9 September 1855 – 9 January 1927) was a British-German philosopher who wrote works about political philosophy and natural science. His writing promoted German ethnonationalism, antisemitism, and scientific ...

. In 1886, he attained the first university chair of anthropology in all of Germany. In 1886–87 he published an acclaimed two-volume textbook on scientific anthropology, called ''Der Mensch''. He was editor of the ''Beiträge zur Anthropologie und Urgeschichte Bayerns'', the ''Archiv für Anthropologie'', and the ''Korrespondenzblatt'' of the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Anthropologie''. In 1885 he created the "prehistoric division" within the ''Paläontologischen Sammlung des Staates''; in 1889 the prehistoric collection had become an independent entity.

Associated eponym

* "Ranke angle": The angle formed by the horizontal plane of the head and a line passing from the centre of the margin of the alveolar arch of the

maxilla The maxilla (plural: ''maxillae'' ) in vertebrates is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The ...

, below the nasal spine to the centre of the frontonasal suture.Ranke angle
Mondofacto

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ranke, Johannes 1836 births 1916 deaths Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich People from Kulmbach (district) German anthropologists German physiologists