Wilhelm Filehne (12 February 1844, in Posen – 29 April 1927, in

Bensheim Bensheim () is a town in the Bergstraße district in southern Hessen, Germany. Bensheim lies on the Bergstraße and at the edge of the Odenwald mountains while at the same time having an open view over the Rhine plain. With about 40,000 inhabit ...

) was a German

pharmacologist Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemic ...

, who specialized in research of

antipyretic An antipyretic (, from ''anti-'' 'against' and ' 'feverish') is a substance that reduces fever. Antipyretics cause the hypothalamus to override a prostaglandin-induced increase in temperature. The body then works to lower the temperature, which r ...

drugs. He studied medicine at the universities of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and

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 ...

, where his instructors included

Emil du Bois-Reymond Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond (7 November 181826 December 1896) was a German physician and physiologist, the co-discoverer of nerve action potential, and the developer of experimental electrophysiology. Life Du Bois-Reymond was born in Berlin a ...

and

Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs (24 March 1819 – 14 March 1885) was a German pathologist born in Aurich. After earning his medical degree from the University of Göttingen in 1841, he returned to Aurich, where he spent several years workin ...

. In 1866 he received his doctorate, and afterwards, he worked as assistant under

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 ...

in Berlin. After participation in the Franco-Prussian War, he returned to Berlin as an assistant to Ludwig Traube. In 1874 he relocated to the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, where he worked as an assistant under

Wilhelm Olivier Leube Wilhelm Olivier Leube (14 September 1842 – 16 May 1922) was a German internist born in Ulm. He studied medicine in Tübingen, Zurich, Berlin and Munich, and from 1868 worked as an assistant at the medical clinic in Erlangen. In 1872, at th ...

at the medical polyclinic.Filehne, Wilhelm
Biographisches Lexikon hervorragender Ärzte In 1876 he became an associate professor of pharmacology at Erlangen, and ten years later, was appointed a full professor of the same subject at the

University of Breslau A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. In 1911 he was succeeded at Breslau by Julius Pohl. In addition to work in the field of pharmacology, he made contributions in his research of

optical illusion Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide v ...

s, being known for his experimentation with a phenomenon known as a

Zöllner illusion The Zöllner illusion is an optical illusion named after its discoverer, German astrophysicist Johann Karl Friedrich Zöllner. In 1860, Zöllner sent his discovery in a letter to physicist and scholar Johann Christian Poggendorff, editor of ''Anna ...

. The so-called "Filehne illusion" is the illusory motion of a stationary background when

smooth pursuit eye movements In the scientific study of vision, smooth pursuit describes a type of eye movement in which the eyes remain fixated on a moving object. It is one of two ways that visual animals can voluntarily shift gaze, the other being saccadic eye movemen ...

are made across the stationary background.

Selected works

* ''Ueber die einwirkung des morphins auf die athmung'', 1879 – On the effect of

morphine Morphine is a strong opiate that is found naturally in opium, a dark brown resin in poppies ('' Papaver somniferum''). It is mainly used as a pain medication, and is also commonly used recreationally, or to make other illicit opioids. Ther ...

respiration Respiration may refer to: Biology * Cellular respiration, the process in which nutrients are converted into useful energy in a cell ** Anaerobic respiration, cellular respiration without oxygen ** Maintenance respiration, the amount of cellula ...

. * ''Ueber das Antipyrin, ein neues Antipyreticum'', 1884 – On

antipyrine Phenazone (INN and BAN; also known as phenazon, antipyrine ( USAN), or analgesine) is an analgesic (pain reducing), antipyretic (fever reducing) and anti-inflammatory drug. While it predates the term, it is often classified as a nonsteroidal anti- ...

, a new antipyretic. * ''Lehrbuch der Arzneimittellehre und Arzneiverordnungslehre'', 1887 – Textbook of pharmacology. * ''Ueber das Pyramidon, ein Antipyrinderivat'', 1896 – On Pyramidon, an antipyrine derivative.Ueber das Pyramidon, ein Antipyrinderivat
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Filehne, Wilhelm 1844 births 1927 deaths People in health professions from Poznań University of Erlangen-Nuremberg faculty University of Breslau faculty Humboldt University of Berlin alumni German pharmacologists