Martin Heidenhain

Martin Heidenhain ( born December 7, 1864 in Breslau, † December 14, 1949 in Tübingen ) was a German anatomist.

Life

Heidenhain comes from a family of doctors. His father Rudolf Heidenhain was a physiologist and professor at the University of Breslau, his mother, Fanny, born Volkmann, the daughter of Alfred Wilhelm Volkmann.

After attending the Gymnasium in Breslau, he studied biology at the Universities of Breslau and Würzburg and then medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau. After completing his doctorate in medicine in 1890 he became an assistant to Albert von Kölliker in Würzburg and prosector for comparative anatomy, embryology and histology. In Würzburg he married Anna Hesse, the marriage produced three sons and a daughter out. In 1894 he habilitated in 1899 and went as prosector and associate professor at the University of Tübingen, in 1917 he became professor of anatomy. 1933 saw him remission of Württemberg State Government, which reduced the age limit for high school teachers from 70 to 68 years and he was given emeritus status, successor as professor of anatomy was Otto Oertel. Nevertheless, Heidenhain could keep up to 1939 in the winter semester a historic colloquium, until he retired due to illness.

Work

Heidenhain's importance lies primarily in the development of histological techniques. In 1914 he hired the precision engineer Paul Graf and let customize nearly 40,000 specimens, which he used in his courses and then left it to the students. In 1894 he introduced the concept telophase for the final stage of mitosis. In addition, he developed numerous staining techniques as the Azan staining and hematoxylin staining, which even today still find application in histology. Heidenhain's major work was the book and plasma cell ( 1907-1911 ).

Writings (selection )

• General anatomy of the living mass (Handbook of Human Anatomy, Vol 8). Fischer, Jena 1907/11

• Synthetic morphology of the kidney of man. Construction and development presented on a new basis. Brill, Leiden, 1937.