William Preyer

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William Thierry Preyer

William Thierry Preyer (born July 4, 1841 in Rusholme near Manchester , England, † July 15, 1897 in Wiesbaden ) was an English physiologist. He was the first long-term professor of physiology in Jena , who was able to make a strong mark on the subject of physiology at Jena University .

Life

Preyer was the son of the large industrial cloth merchant Heinrich Wilhelm Thierry Preyer (born November 23, 1810 - August 12, 1890) and his wife Adele Klara Marie (born Kutter, August 23, 1820 - April 29, 1889). In 1854 he attended the Clapham Grammar School in London , in 1855 the grammar school in Duisburg and in 1857 the grammar school in Bonn . In 1859 he began studying medicine, which he continued in Berlin, Heidelberg and Vienna. After a trip to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, which he undertook together with the geologist Ferdinand Zirkel , he received his doctorate in philosophy in Heidelberg in 1862, with a scientific thesis. In 1864 he worked in Paris, completed his habilitation as a private lecturer in Bonn in 1865 and became a doctor of medicine there in 1866.

In 1867 he moved to Jena as a lecturer, where he was given a full professorship in physiology in the summer semester of 1869 and, associated with it, became director of the physiological institute. There he also took part in the organizational tasks of the university and was rector of the Alma Mater in the summer semesters 1878, 1888, and in the winter semester 1873 . He became Hofrat von Sachsen Weimar Eisenach, member of the Leopoldina in 1879 and moved to Berlin as a private lecturer in the winter semester of 1888/89. After his retirement he went to Wiesbaden in 1897, where he died of kidney and liver problems. Preyer is considered to be the founder of child language research.

Preyer married on January 8, 1877 with Sophie Erika Marie Auguste Josephine Luise (born Freiin von Hofmann, born November 18, 1856 in Darmstadt). Their son Axel Thierry Preyer (born November 23, 1877 in Jena) became an agricultural expert at the Consulate General in Cairo. The painter Ernest Preyer was his brother.

Act

His name is associated with the introduction of experimental and scientific training for students in the lecture , the introduction of seminars in the subject of physiology, the systematic involvement of the students in research activities and the constant struggle for a structural design that is adapted to the teaching and research results and scientific -technical infrastructure of the Physiological Institute. Preyer's scientific work was shaped by Charles Darwin and his teachings. His two main works, The Soul of the Child and Special Physiology of the Embryo, are of importance to the present day . These child psychology and development physiological investigations Preyer contributed significantly to the scientific basis of modern development physiology and developmental psychology at.

Preyer did not want science to be understood only as a matter for the university. The “referral evenings” in Jena were an opportunity to discuss scientific issues with representatives from other specialist areas. In Berlin he advocated a popular form of science presentation and represented this view as head of the microscopic department of Urania.

In 2007 the William Thierry Preyer Award named after him was presented to the Turkish scientist Cigdem Kagitcibasi for the first time at the 13th European Conference on Developmental Psychology in Jena .

Works (selection)

Title page of The Soul of the Child
  • together with Ferdinand Zirkel: Journey to Iceland in the summer of 1860. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1862.
  • De haemoglobino observationes et experimenta. Diss. Univ. Bonn 1866 ( digitized version ).
  • Rétablissement de l'irritabilité des muscles roides. 1865.
  • About some properties of hemoglobin and methemoglobin. Bonn 1868.
  • The five human senses. Leipzig 1870.
  • The blood crystals. Mauke, Jena 1871 ( archive.org ).
  • The myophysical law. Jena 1874.
  • Beyond the limits of sound perception. Jena 1876.
  • About the causes of sleep. Stuttgart 1877.
  • Elements of the pure theory of sensation. Hermann Dufft, Jena 1877.
  • Scientific facts and problems. Berlin: Paetel, 1880 ( archive.org ).
  • The discovery of hypnotism. In addition to an unprinted original essay by Braid in a German translation. Paetel, Berlin 1881.
  • Colors and temperature sense. 1881.
  • The child's soul. Observations on the spiritual development of man in the first years of life. Greaves, Leipzig 1882; 2nd edition 1884, ( archive.org ); 4th edition 1895 ( archive.org ); 9th edition, edited after the death of the author and edited. by Karl L. Schaefer, 1923.
  • The discovery of hypnotism. Berlin 1881.
  • James Braid : The Hypnotism. Selected Writings. German edited by William Preyer. Paetel, Berlin 1882 ( archive.org ).
  • Elements of general physiology. Short and easy to understand. Greaves, Leipzig 1883 ( archive.org ).
  • A new method of lowering body temperature. Jena 1884.
  • Special physiology of the embryo. Leipzig 1885.
  • From natural and human life. 1885.
  • Nature research and school. Stuttgart 1887.
  • Letters from Robert von Mayer to Wilhelm Griesinger and his reply from the years 1842 to 45. Berlin 1889.
  • Biological time issues. Berlin 1889.
  • The hypnotism. Lectures held at the K. Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin. Along with notes and a posthumous treatise by Braid from 1845. Urban & Schwarzenberg, Vienna / Leipzig 1890 ( archive.org ).
  • Mental development in early childhood, along with instructions for parents to observe it. Stuttgart 1893
  • The Czynski trial. Act of the same and expert opinion on will restriction through hypnotic-suggestive influence etc. Stuttgart 1895.
  • On the psychology of writing: with special consideration for individual differences in handwriting. Voss, Hamburg 1895 ( digitized version ).

literature

Web links

Commons : William Preyer  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bernhard Koerner: Preyer . In: German gender book (Genealogical manual of bourgeois families.) . CA Starke, Görlitz 1907, p. 398-401 ( Text Archive - Internet Archive ).
personal data
SURNAME Preyer, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Preyer, William Thierry (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British physiologist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th July 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Rusholme near Manchester , England
DATE OF DEATH July 15, 1897
Place of death Wiesbaden