Remak, Robert

Remak, Robert

(born July 26, 1815, Posen, Prussia—died Aug. 29, 1865, Kissingen, Bavaria) German embryologist and neurologist. He discovered and named the three germ layers of cells that develop in the early embryo: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. He also discovered Remak fibres (nerve fibres with no myelin sheath) and Remak ganglia (neurons in the heart) and was a pioneer in electrotherapy for nervous diseases. He achieved enough eminence to obtain a lectureship at the University of Berlin despite Prussian laws barring Jews from teaching.

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Remak, Robert 

Born July 26, 1815, in Poznań; died Aug. 29, 1865, in Bad Kissingen. German histologist, embryologist, and neuropathologist.

Remak graduated from the University of Berlin in 1838 and was a professor there from 1859. His principal works were on neurohistology—the structure of peripheral nerves, sympathetic cardiac ganglia, and the peripheral ganglia in the nerves of the digestive tract. The unmyelinated nerve fibers and sympathetic cardiac ganglia between the auricles and ventricles were described by and subsequently named after Remak.

Many of Remak’s works were on cytology and embryology. He was one of the first to discover amitosis. He believed that the three germ layers that form in the embryo and individually develop into specific organs are typical of all vertebrates. Remak also introduced into clinical practice the use of electric direct currents in treating nerve and muscle diseases.

WORKS

Über ein selbständiges Darmnervensystem. Berlin, 1847.
Untersuchungen über die Entwicklung der Wirbelthiere, fascs. 1–3. Berlin, 1855.