Josef Spek

Josef Spek (born May 27, 1895 in Sächsisch-Regen , Transylvania , † February 21, 1964 in Rostock ) was a German zoologist and cell physiologist. His specialty was protoplasm research .

After graduating from high school in Sibiu in 1913 , Spek studied natural sciences, especially zoology, in Heidelberg . He received his doctorate in 1916 under Otto Bütschli on "Surface tension differences as a cause of cell division" and then became an assistant at the Zoological Institute of Heidelberg University . In 1920 he completed his habilitation with Bütschli's successor, Curt Herbst, and was appointed associate professor in 1926. Until 1947 he taught as a private lecturer at the University of Heidelberg. For experiments with live egg cells, Spek often stayed at the marine biological stations in Naples, Rovigno (Istria), Kristineberg (Sweden) and on Heligoland. In 1932/33 he worked in the laboratory of the cell physiologist and biophysicist Robert Chambers in New York City and Woods Hole (Massachusetts). After a substitute chair in Greifswald in 1934 , Spek was appointed to the University of Rostock in 1947 , where he became director of the zoological institute. In 1960 Josef Spek retired.

Scientifically, he investigated the colloid chemistry and the physics of protoplasm. He mainly dealt with questions about cell structure and development mechanics: Is the cytoplasm organized like a honeycomb or a fibrillar? In particular, he researched plasmatic secretion processes in egg cells and embryonic cells. For Spek, the protoplasm was a physicochemical system with which he tried to explain the causal development of cells and germs. Around 1930, the plasmatic differentiation of egg and embryonic cells became the focus of his research. He displayed differentiations in the protoplasm by means of voltage and pH-dependent vital dyes. With his new and original detection methods, Spek is one of the pioneers of vital staining and fluorescent marking in microscopy. As one of the leading protoplasm researchers of his time, Spek founded the journal "Protoplasma" in 1926 with the Austrian plant physiologist Friedl Weber , which he co-edited until 1964.

literature

Spek, Josef . In: Erwin Hentschel, Günther Wagner: Dictionary of Zoology. 7th edition. Elsevier, Munich / Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8274-1479-2 , page 480.

Web links

Individual references and comments

↑ The concept of a fibrillar cytoskeleton did not gain acceptance until the 1970s (see: Ekkehard Höxterman: "Josef Spek" in German Biography).

personal data
SURNAME	Spek, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German zoologist and cell physiologist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 27, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH	Saxon rain , Transylvania
DATE OF DEATH	February 21, 1964
Place of death	Rostock

[1] The concept of a fibrillar cytoskeleton did not gain acceptance until the 1970s (see: Ekkehard Höxterman: "Josef Spek" in German Biography).