Robert Remak: biography of this researcher

A review of the life of Robert Remak, known above all for his doctrine on cell division.

Robert Remak was quite unlucky in life if we are of those who see the glass half empty. The fact that he was Jewish and had to compete against one of the greats, Rudolf Virchow, did not benefit him in any way in his attempt to become a university professor.

But, although his desire to be a professor at the highest German institution of his time was denied him, his great findings in the field of embryology, physiology and neurology make Remak a figure not to be overlooked.

The life of this Pole of Jewish origin in the German society of the 19th century was not easy, but neither can it be said that his history was erased, and here we will learn about it through an abridged biography by Robert Remak.

Short biography of Robert Remak

Neurologist, physiologist, embryologist, histologist and mycologist are the five words that can define Remak in the professional field. His findings greatly changed the perception of how living beings were formed, especially vertebrates, in addition to describing the structure of the nervous system.He also described the structure of the nervous system and how cells originated from pre-existing ones. The list of his contributions is extensive, and it is not surprising since, as he was rejected on multiple occasions to become a university professor, he devoted all his time to research.

Early years

Robert Remak was born in Posen, Germany (present-day Poznań, Poland) between July 26 and 30, 1815.. He was born into a family of Orthodox Jews strongly identified with Polish culture, and was the eldest of five children.

The first years of his education were spent at home, but he would later attend high school in the city of Poznań. Despite his interest in studies and being an excellent student, he had to interrupt his education for a year because his health, very brittle, worsened and he had to rest. Fortunately he recovered and would later study at the Polish Gymnasium in Poznan.

University education

When he was 18 years old, he went to Berlin to study at the to study at the University of the German capital. The Berlin of the 19th century was already showing signs of becoming the cultural, scientific and philosophical center that it would become in a few years. It was the scientific mecca for any German citizen interested in pursuing university studies, being the case of Remak, who would study medicine in such a neuralgic city.

At the faculty was fortunate to have as professors such great figures of German science of the time as the physiologist Johannes Müller and the naturalist C.G. Ehrenberg.. Both professors were very fond of the technique of microscopy, inviting Remak to begin studying tissue and cell samples on his own, both to satisfy his curiosity and to expand his knowledge. Thus, he would begin to study this discipline even before he had finished his medical studies.

The first things he studied with this instrument were the ganglion cells and nerve fibers of invertebrates.. From his findings he published his first work on the structure of nerve tissue in 1836, when he was only 21 years old.

In 1838 he published his thesis Observationes anatomicae et microscopicae de systematis nervosi structuraIn this text he demonstrated the existence of a cylinder-shaped structure that he called "primitive band". This same band had been named cylinder-axis by the anatomist Johannes Evangelista Purkinje. With his Remak microscope he also observed amedulated nerve fibers in the sympathetic nervous system, which he referred to as the "organic nervous system"..

Remak's life was not only notable for his great and important scientific discoveries at the age of 30. He also carried out an important task giving prestige to his mother tongue, since he himself translated his thesis into Polish, contributing to fix a new medical nomenclature in this Slavic language. In spite of being widely spoken, it was a very minorized language compared to German, which was considered an important language for scientific dissemination.

First professional years

After finishing his apprenticeship, Robert Remak joined Johannes Müller's laboratory, where he worked in the. He also offered private lessons in microscopy and entered clinical practice. These jobs were his livelihood because, although his intellect and early findings were impressive, his Jewishness hindered him from becoming a university professor in a Germany that was very anti-Semitic, even in the most moderate cultural and scientific circles.

Given the religious and ethnic discrimination in 19th century Germany, Remak considered moving to Paris.. He gave this idea a lot of thought, but the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt convinced him to stay and continue his research. Thanks to this, in 1839 he discovered ganglion cells in the right atrium of the frog, giving life to the neurogenic doctrine of cardiac contraction. Later he would find nerve fibers in the lung, larynx, pharynx and tongue, and also in the wall of the urinary bladder.

In 1840 he focused on the study of the so-called organic nervous system, both from a histological and a physiological point of view. A year later he published his results in the form of articles in the Encyclopädische Wörterbuch der medicinischen Wissenschaften (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Medical Sciences).

He would publish in the "Medizinische Zeitung his study Über die Entstehung der Blutkörperchen" (On the formation of Blood cells), in which he how blood cells divide and multiply, and how they are able to divide and multiply.. Basically, in this article he shows his rejection of the theory still widespread in his time that cells could be generated from a more or less homogeneous elementary substance.

New opportunities

The decade of 1840 seemed to be a time of socio-political changes in Prussia, since that same year Frederick William IV occupied the throne and, with him, a greater tolerance towards the Jews, or in principle that was the idea. Taking advantage of this, Robert Remak, with the help of the Minister of Education and appearing before the monarch himself, asked him to appoint him "Dozent" so that he could teach at the university. Unfortunately, he did not approve his request.

Robert Remak was forced to continue in the field of research, this time working as an assistant in Johann Lucas Schönlein's laboratory.. In that laboratory Remak did clinical research, collected in the book "Diagnostische und pathogenetische Untersuchungen" (Diagnostics and pathological studies, 1845). He also continued his work on embryology and on the structure of the nervous system.

Although frustrated at not being able to become a university professor, he was able to channel his rage and anger into something productive and, as a result, he discovered that the deepest germ layer in the embryo has its origin in the epithelium, demonstrated cell division in the embryonic origin of the primitive muscle bundles, and discovered the fibrils of the axis-cylinder.

Fortunately, his fortunes changed in 1847, since that year he was appointed professor reader at the University of Berlin, with Schönberg's support.with the support of Schönlein and Humboldt. Although it was a minor position, this did not prevent him from generating an important media repercussion, since Robert Remak was the first Jew to occupy such a position in such an institution. Thanks to this, he gained much renown within the scientific community. The icing on the cake would be that same year in which he would marry Feodore Meyer.

Although his dream of becoming a university professor had been achieved, although not entirely, he did not leave the field of research. He continued with his studies in medicine, especially in the germ sheet and the development of vertebrates. In 1850 he published the first part of his studies on these two subjects, in addition to discussing the possibility that the cells of fertilized chicken eggs divide continuously.

Advances in cell theory

In 1851 he discovered that the organs in which the senses are based, such as the eyes, ears, skin and others, are formed from the ectoderm. A year later he published in Müller's archives his own doctrine of cell division, pointing out that cells multiply by cleavage of their nucleus, not from an original protoplasm.. This is indeed one of the great scientific breakthroughs of modern times, since it culminated the cell theory as we know it today.

With this theory of the cell Remak refuted Theodor Schwann about the exogenous origin of cells. Remak, as we know today, considered that animal and plant cells have a single intracellular origin, and that all animal cells arose from embryonic cells by progressive division. In 1852, he reaffirmed all this he reaffirmed all this by publishing a paper in which he argued that cells, of necessity, had to arise from other cells, either by division or by division of cells.either by division or by cleavage.

In 1855 he completed his embryological work by publishing "Untersuchungen über die Entwickelung der Wirbelthiere" (Investigations on the development of vertebrates). He would simplify the theory of the germinal sheets and it would be he himself who would introduce the terms "ectoderm", "mesoderm" and "endoderm". It would be in that same year that he would publish his first neurological work, Über methodische Electrisierung gelähmter Muskeln (On the methodical electrification of paralyzed muscles).

Final years

In 1856 he severed his ties with the university when he was denied a position as professor of pathological anatomy. He had had enough of the fact that, despite having been an excellent researcher and a great student at that same institution, he decided to continue with his clinical practice and to divulge, publishing Galvanotherapie der Nerven und Muskelnkrakheiten(Galvanotherapy of Nerve and Muscle Diseases), which he dedicated to Humboldt.

However, in 1859 he was again associated with the university, since he was appointed assistant professor at the institution. This did not prevent him from feeling frustrated and disenchanted with the academic world and, coupled with his failing health, Robert Remak would eventually die a few years later, on August 29, 1865, at the age of 50.. He died while taking a rest cure and the cause of his death was most likely a general sepsis secondary to diabetes.

Bibliographical references:

• Albarracín Teulón, A (1983). La teoría celular. Madrid, Spain: Alianza,.
• Anderson, C.T. (1986) Robert Remak and the multinucleated cell: eliminating a barrier to the acceptance of cell division. Bull Hist Med.;60(4):523-43.
• Hamburger, V (1988). Ontogeny of neuroembryology. J Neurosci ;8(10):3535-40.
• Lagunoff, D (2002). Portraits of science. A Polish, Jewish scientist in 19th-century Prussia. Science. 20; 298(5602):2331.
• Laín Entralgo, P. (1963) Historia de la medicina moderna y contemporánea. 2nd ed., Barcelona, Interamericana.