Francis Kiernan

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Francis Kiernan (born October 2, 1800 in Ireland , † December 31, 1874 in London ) was a British anatomist and surgeon who developed the concept of the classic liver lobule and is considered the founder of modern liver anatomy.

Life

Kiernan was born into a family of doctors in Ireland, the oldest of four children. The family moved to England during his childhood . Kiernan attended college in Hertfordshire . After attending school, he began a surgical-anatomical training at London's St Bartholomew's Hospital . In 1825 Kiernan became a member of the English Royal College of Surgeons .

Kiernan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1834 . In 1836 he was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society for his histological work on the microscopic fine structure of the liver . In 1837 Kiernan became a member of the founding senate of the new London University . There he taught anatomy and physiology . In 1850 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and in 1864 was elected Vice President .

plant

Kiernan was best known for his work on the functional structure of the liver. Using pig livers , he developed the concept of the classic hexagonal liver lobes (lobulus hepaticus) as an anatomical and functional unit of the liver, which is still described in many textbooks today . The space around Glisson's triad is also often referred to in English as Kiernan's space (German: sometimes also Kiernan's triangle) .

The concept of the liver lobule continues to this day, although the clear anatomical limitation described by Kiernan in pigs is missing in humans and other mammal species. It was not until the 1950s that Elias et al. a. that the sharp connective tissue delimitation in pigs is a degenerative phenomenon that is not yet found in piglets .

literature

  • NN. Francis Kiernan FRS In: Nature. 11, 1875, p. 193.
  • NN .: Obituary. Francis Kiernan FRS In: Br Med J. 1, 1875, p. 31. PMC 2295344 (free full text)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Reinhard Hildebrand: Rudolf Albert Koelliker and his scientific contacts abroad. In: Würzburger medical historical reports 2, 1984, pp. 101–115; here: p. 105.
  2. ↑ Cert VIII, 128; A04007; EC / 1834/41; GB 117 The Royal Society
  3. ^ A b F. Kiernan: The anatomy and physiology of the liver. In: Philos Trans R Soc Lond. 123, 1833, pp. 711-770.
  4. ↑ H. Elias, E. Bond, A. Lazarowitz: The normal liver of the pig; is it an example of purely portal (and therefore subclinical) cirrhosis; a preliminary report. In: Am J Vet Res. 15, 1954, pp. 60-66. PMID 13124678 .
personal data
SURNAME Kiernan, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British anatomist and medicin
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1800
PLACE OF BIRTH Ireland
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1874
Place of death London