Ewald Weibel

Rudolf Ewald Weibel ( born March 5, 1929 in Buchs AG, Switzerland ) is a Swiss anatomist and electron microscopists. He has co-founded with the development of morphometric methods, the quantitative study of the structural basis of Physiology at the example of lung function and cell biology and applied in the context of comparative- physiological studies on the respiratory system from the lungs to the mitochondria. He discovered in 1962 by George Emil Palade, the specific organelle of blood vessel endothelial cells, which is now called " Weibel- Palade Body". Ewald Weibel has authored more than 350 scientific publications and several books.

Life and work

After studying medicine at the University of Zurich ( state exam in 1955, MD. 1956) was followed by several years of study in the U.S. at Yale University in New Haven, as well as at Columbia University and at the Rockefeller Institute in New York, most recently as a Career Investigator of the Health research Council of the City of New York. In 1963, he returned as an assistant professor at the Anatomical Institute of the University of Zurich back and followed 1966, the appointment as a full professor and director of the Anatomical Institute at the University of Bern, until his retirement in 1994. He was rector of the University of Bern from 1984 until 1985. Between 1979 to 1996 he was Visiting Professor Agassiz and associate in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. After his retirement, he was until 2000 Vice President and Secretary of the Fondation Maurice E. Müller for Orthopaedic Surgery. He was founding president of the Union of Swiss Societies for Experimental Biology (1969-1972), President of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (1996-2000) and president of the International Union of Physiological Sciences ( 1997-2001).

His academic work concerns four main areas: the morphometry of the human lung as a structural basis of gas exchange function; the development of morphometric and stereological procedures; the application of these methods in cell biology for the design of the membrane system of the liver cell and the mitochondria in the muscle; Integrative Studies in comparative physiology, in particular the question of the optimal structural basis of organismic functions of the respiratory system from the lungs to the muscle cells and their mitochondria due to the hypothesis of Symmorphosis. The discovery of Weibel- Palade Bodies in 1962 was a chance observation. Ewald Weibel is married to the violinist and musicologist Verena Weibel- Trachsler.

Awards and Prizes (selection )

Writings (selection )

Weibel is the author of over 350 scientific publications and several books:

  • ER Weibel Palade GE: New Cytoplasmic Components In Arterial endothelia. In: The Journal of cell biology. Volume 23, October 1964, pp. 101-112, ISSN 0021-9525. PMID 14,228,505th PMC 2106503 (Free full text ).
  • Morphometry of the Human Lung. Springer Verlag and Academic Press, Berlin, New York 1963.
  • Stereo Logical Methods. Vol I: Practical Methods for Biological Morphometry. Vol 2: Theoretical Foundations. Academic Press, London-New York - Toronto 1979 /80.
  • The Pathway for Oxygen. Structure and Function in the Mammalian Respiratory System. Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA 1984.
  • Symmorphosis: On Form and Function in Shaping Life. The John M. Prather Lectures. Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA, 2000.
Marcel Benoist Prize National Academy of Sciences American Association for the Advancement of Science Polish Academy of Sciences Academia Europaea American Academy of Arts and Sciences Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences Integrated Authority File
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