Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann

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Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann

Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann (born July 1, 1801 in Zschortau , † April 21, 1877 in Halle, Saale ) was a German physiologist and anatomist .

family

Volkmann came from a wealthy Hamburg patrician family who also settled in the Electorate of Saxony in the second half of the 18th century . His parents were the Leipzig Senator Johann Wilhelm Volkmann (February 10, 1772-1856) and his wife Friederike Tugendreich, née. Zinc. The writer Johann Jacob Volkmann was his grandfather.

Volkmann married Adele Härtel on September 20, 1828 (* March 25, 1808 in Leipzig; † August 22, 1884 in Halle, Saale), the daughter of the owner of the book and music store Breitkopf & Härtel . The marriage resulted in twelve children, including the surgery professor and writer Richard von Volkmann and the books and music dealer Wilhelm Volkmann (father of the art historian Ludwig Volkmann ). The daughter Anna Anschütz (1832–1901), professor in Kiel, continued the scholarly family of the Volkmanns in her successor ( August Anschütz , Gerhard Anschütz ).

Volkmann's Halle house was a focal point of the city's social life. His friends included the painters Wilhelm von Kügelgen , Friedrich Preller and Ludwig Richter as well as the musicians Robert Franz , and Clara and Robert Schumann .

education and profession

Volkmann attended the Princely School of St. Afra in Meissen . From 1821 he studied medicine at the University of Leipzig . In 1826 he received his doctorate (July 28) with the dissertation Observatio biologica de magnetismo animali as a doctor of medicine. A study trip took him to London and Paris . Because, as he wrote, “a lack of inclination towards medical practice”, Volkmann turned to the scientific foundations of the subject.

In 1826 he received his doctorate in medicine. In 1828 the habilitation followed with the font De animi affectionibus . In the following years he dealt with anatomical problems ( Anatomia animalium , 2 volumes, 1831 and 1833); In 1834 he became an associate professor for zootomy in Leipzig. Two writings on the then new field of human biochemistry made Volkmann known ( New contributions to the physiology of the sense of sight , 1836; The doctrine of the physical life of man , 1837).

In 1837 he was appointed full professor of physiology , pathology and semiotics at the German University of Dorpat . Volkmann, who has been the founder of hemodynamics (physics of blood movement) since that year, was appointed Imperial Russian Councilor and was rector of the Alma Mater in 1842/43 . There he was raised to the nobility by Tsar Nicholas I. Here he continued his studies of the nervous system and devoted himself primarily to blood circulation.

Volkmann's speeches from that time are cryptic. As prorector of the university in 1841 , for example, he gave a fiery speech against the mischief of duels, which was indicated as an appreciation of the duel . In 1838 he spoke about physiology as an opponent of the doctrine of materialism of the identity of the body and the soul . In it he presented materialistic views in order to then apparently refute them. However, Volkmann only denied the mechanistic connection between body and mind, without accepting the proof of immortality that he had announced. In 1838, in a speech in honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna , Volkmann found very friendly words about the University of Dorpat.

However, in 1843 he left Dorpat and sought admission as a private lecturer at the University of Halle for family reasons, but also because of “some injustice and insults” . Because of the increasing Russification of the university, several scholars left Dorpat, such as the Harnack family of professors . After a short time as a private lecturer in Halle, Volkmann was appointed full professor of pathology and physiology in 1844. From 1854 he also taught anatomy, physiology was branched off in 1872 and transferred to Julius Bernstein at Volkmann's request . Research trips took Volkmann to France and Italy. In 1847, 1850 and 1862 he was elected rector of the university . In 1849 he was accepted as a full member of the Royal Saxon Society of Sciences . In 1860 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and an external member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1874 he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . In 1876 he retired from teaching.

power

With his work on the nervous system, the eyes and the blood, Volkmann is considered to be one of the founders of the field of physiology (Physiological studies in the field of optics, 1863/64; The hemodynamics according to experiments, 1850). He constructed various devices, for example to measure the speed of the blood in large arteries (to determine the contents of the heart chamber) or to test the alertness of rested and tired people by presenting visual impressions.

Volkmann's contributions to psychophysics and perception research are just as important . Fechner developed his classic psychophysical "method of mean errors" (which was already used in astronomy) in cooperation with Volkmann. His daughter Anna Anschütz was later a test subject at Fechner. In his work Physiological Investigations in the Field of Optics of 1864, Volkmann examined Weber's law and reported that the difference threshold for the distance between lines increases as the reference distance increases. This was one of the first proofs of the validity of Weber's law in a visual sense. Volkmann's extensive experimental results in this work were the main source on which Ewald Hering developed his theory of vernier acuity in 1899. From a philosophical point of view, Volkmann turned against materialistic views on the mind-body problem in speeches .

Eponym

The Volkmann canals are named after Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann.

Fonts (selection)

  • New contributions to the physiology of the sense of sight. Breitkopf & Härtel , Leipzig 1836 ( archive )
  • The Doctrine of the Bodily Life of Man: An Anatomical-Physiological Handbook for Self-Teaching for the Educated. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1837 ( Google Books )
  • Contribution to the moral appreciation of the duel: Ceremonial speech given on the coronation day of His Majesty the Emperor and Mr. Nicolai Pawlowitsch, on August 22, 1841 in the large lecture hall of the Imperial University of Dorpat. Heinrich Laakmann , Dorpat 1841 ( Google Books )
  • with Friedrich Heinrich Bidder : The independence of the sympathetic nervous system proven by anatomical studies. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1842 ( Google Books )
  • with Friedrich Heinrich Bidder: On the doctrine of the relationship of the ganglion bodies to the nerve fibers. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1847 ( Google Books )
  • Forays into the field of exact physiology. A pamphlet against Professor G. Valentin. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1847 ( Google Books )
  • The hemodynamics after experiments. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1850 ( archive )
  • Physiological investigations in the field of optics. Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1863 ( archive )

literature

  • Heinrich Haeser: Textbook of the history of medicine and epidemic diseases. Verlag Gustav Fischer, J ena, 1881, 3rd ed., 2nd vol.
  • Heinz-Peter Schmiedebach : Volkmann, Alfred Wilhelm. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil, Wolfgang Wegner: Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1454.
  • Julius Pagel :  Volkmann, Alfred . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, p. 236 f.
  • Monika Altmeyer: Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann 1801-1877: life and work. 1964.
  • Marta Fischer: Patterns of Life. Biobibliographical lexicon of physiologists between Germany and Russia in the 19th century. Shaker, Aachen 2012 (= Relationes. Volume 9), pp. 322-325 ( online version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members of the SAW: Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann. Saxon Academy of Sciences, accessed December 10, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 248.
  3. ^ Alfred Volkmann's membership entry at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on June 18, 2016.
  4. ^ Gisela Teichmann: William Harvey and the cardiac output. In: internal medicine. Volume 19, 1992, No. 3, pp. 94-96, here: p. 95.
  5. ^ G. Murphy: Historical introduction to modern psychology . Routlage and Kegan Paul, 1964, p. 90.
  6. ↑ a b Jüri Allik: History of Experimental Psychology from an Estonian Perspective . In: Psychological Research . 71, 2007, pp. 618-625. doi : 10.1007 / s00426-006-0051-9 .
  7. ^ A b Hans Strasburger, David Rose: Alfred Volkmann (1863). Physiological Investigations in the Field of Optics. Partial translation and commentary; Supplement to Strasburger, H .; Huber, J .; Rose, D. (2018). "Ewald Hering (1899) On the Limits of Visual Acuity . In: i-Perception . 9, No. 3, 2018, pp. 1-14.
  8. ^ Hans Strasburger, Jörg Huber, David Rose: Ewald Hering (1899) On the Limits of Visual Acuity: A Translation and Commentary. With a Supplement on Alfred Volkmann (1863) Physiological Investigations in the Field of Optics . In: i-Perception . 9, No. 3, 2018, pp. 1–14.
  9. ↑ Volkmann's canals at whonamedit.com
personal data
SURNAME Volkmann, Alfred Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Volkmann, Alfred Wilhelm von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physiologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH Zschortau
DATE OF DEATH April 21, 1877
Place of death Halle (Saale)