Ewald Weibel

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Ewald Weibel (2006)

Ewald Rudolf Weibel (born March 5, 1929 in Buchs ; † February 19, 2019 ) was a Swiss anatomist and electron microscope specialist . With the development of morphometric methods, he co-founded the quantitative study of the structural fundamentals of physiology using the example of lung function and cell biology and applied it in the context of comparative physiological studies on the respiratory system from the lungs to the mitochondria. In 1962, together with George Emil Palade, he discovered the specific organelle of the blood vessel endothelial cells, which is now called the “ Weibel-Palade Body ”. Ewald Weibel was the author of more than 350 scientific publications and several books.

life and work

After studying medicine at the University of Zurich (state examination 1955, Dr. med. 1956), he spent several years studying in the USA at Yale University in New Haven, as well as at Columbia University and the Rockefeller Institute in New York, most recently as a career Investigator for the Health Research Council of the City of New York. In 1963 he returned as an assistant professor to the Anatomical Institute of the University of Zurich and in 1966 he was appointed full professor and director of the Anatomical Institute at the University of Bern until his retirement in 1994. He was Rector of the University of Bern from 1984 to 1985. From 1979 until 1996 he was Visiting Agassiz Professor and Associate in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. After his retirement he was Vice President and Secretary of the Maurice E. Müller Foundation for Orthopedic Surgery until 2000. He was the founding president of the Union of Swiss Societies for Experimental Biology (1969–1972), President of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (1996–2000) and President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (1997–2001).

His scientific work covered four main areas: the morphometry of the human lung as the structural basis of the gas exchange function; the development of morphometric and stereological methods; the application of these methods in cell biology to measure the membrane system of the liver cell and the mitochondria in the muscles; integrative studies in comparative physiology, especially on the question of the optimal structural basis of the organismic functions of the respiratory system from the lungs to the muscle cells and their mitochondria based on the hypothesis of symmorphosis. The discovery of the Weibel-Palade Bodies in 1962 was a chance observation. Ewald Weibel was married to the violinist and musicologist Verena Weibel-Trachsler.

Awards and prizes (selection)

Fonts (selection)

Weibel was the author of over 350 scientific publications and several books:

  • ER Weibel, GE Palade: New Cytoplasmic Components In Arterial Endothelia. In: Journal of Cell Biology . Volume 23, October 1964, pp. 101-112, ISSN  0021-9525 . PMID 14228505 . PMC 2106503 (free full text).
  • Morphometry of the Human Lung . Springer Verlag and Academic Press, Berlin, New York 1963.
  • Stereological Methods. Vol. I: Practical Methods for Biological Morphometry. Vol. 2: Theoretical Foundations . Academic Press, London-New York-Toronto 1979/80.
  • The Pathway for Oxygen. Structure and Function in the Mammalian Respiratory System . Harvard Univ. Press: Cambridge MA 1984.
  • Symmorphosis: On Form and Function in Shaping Life. The John M. Prather Lectures . Harvard Univ. Press: Cambridge MA 2000.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary notice , Der Bund , February 23, 2019, sich-erinnern.ch, accessed on February 24, 2019.
  2. ↑ ER Weibel, GE Palade: New Cytoplasmic Components In Arterial Endothelia. In: Journal of Cell Biology . Volume 23, October 1964, pp. 101-112, ISSN  0021-9525 . PMID 14228505 . PMC 2106503 (free full text).
  3. ↑ List of Presidents of the Union of Swiss Societies for Experimental Biology Archive link ( Memento from March 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ List of Presidents of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences Archive link ( Memento from March 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Member entry by Ewald R. Weibel at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on March 8, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Weibel, Ewald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weibel, Ewald Rudolf (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss anatomist and electron microscope specialist
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Buchs , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH 19th February 2019