Josias Weitbrecht

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Josias Weitbrecht (born November 6, 1702 in Schorndorf ; † February 28, 1747 in Saint Petersburg ) was an anatomist from Württemberg .

Live and act

Weitbrecht came from the Schorndorfer branch of the Württemberg Weitbrecht family and was the son of the hat maker and mayor Josias Weitbrecht (1674–1764) and Agnes, née Hornung (1682–1737). After studying at the University of Tübingen , Josias Weitbrecht first earned a master's degree in philosophy . In 1721 he came to St. Petersburg through the mediation of the anatomist Johann Georg Duvernoy (1691–1759), who was already active there, where he later became a member of the Imperial Russian Academy of Sciences in 1725 . There he studied medicine and physiology , shifting his focus to anatomy. In the latter subject, he initially taught students at the secondary school attached to the academy. On January 22, 1730 Weitbrecht was appointed full professor of physiology. In 1743 he was supposed to be dismissed due to his contract expiring despite the best certificates, but was initially employed as a freelance worker until 1746. It was only through an intervention by the then responsible German Imperial Count Alexei Grigorjewitsch Rasumowski that his contract of employment was renewed and Weitbrecht was appointed professor of anatomy in January 1747. A short time later he died on February 28, 1747.

Josias Weitbrecht was considered one of the most important anatomists of his time. He mainly described the structure and function of the intervertebral disc . The Weitbrecht foramen , ligaments , the discus acromioclavicularis in the shoulder joint (Weitbrecht cartilage) and fibers were named after him. Furthermore, in the winter of 1738, Weitbrecht recalibrated the Delisle scale for temperature measurements, which originally had 2400 degrees, to the reference points 0 ° De for the boiling point and 150 ° De for the melting point of water. As a result, the Delisle thermometer was used in Russia for over 100 years. A total of 21 treatises of his research are the basis of today's knowledge. He used an excellent Latin .

Josias Weitbrecht was married to Katharina Sophie Duran from Copenhagen and had two daughters and two sons. His nephew Johann Jakob Weitbrecht also moved to St. Petersburg, where he was a successful typographer , music dealer and publisher and appointed purveyor to the court .

Works

  • Syndesmologia sive historia ligamentorum corporis humani quam secundum observationes anatomicas concinnavit et figuris ad objecta recentia adumbratis illustravit Iosias Weitbrecht . Typographia academiae scientiarum, Petropoli (Petersburg) 1742. Bibliographical information in Library of Congress .
  • Syndesmology; or, A description of the ligaments of the human body, arranged in accordance with anatomical dissections and illustrated with figures drawn from fresh subjects . Translated by Emanuel B. Kaplan. Bibliographical references in Library of Congress .
  • Mr. Josias Weitbrechts, ... Syndesmology. Or description of the ligaments of the human body, brought into a complete excerpt, and provided with all associated figures . King, Strasbourg 1779.
  • Desmographie ou description des ligamens du corps humain . Durand, Paris 1752. Bibliographical references in Library of Congress .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Weitbrecht, Josias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German anatomist
DATE OF BIRTH November 6, 1702
PLACE OF BIRTH Schorndorf
DATE OF DEATH February 28, 1747
Place of death St. Petersburg