Martin Rathke

Martin Heinrich Rathke ( born August 25, 1793 in Gdansk, † September 3, 1860 in Königsberg, East Prussia ) was a German anatomist, embryologist and zoologist.

Life

Rathke, son of shipbuilder Georg Heinrich and his wife Catharina Elisabeth Streege, attended high school in Danzig and studied from 1814-1818 natural history and medicine in Göttingen and Berlin. He then went back to Gdansk as a general practitioner and in 1825 chief physician at the city hospital, a year later Kreisphysicus. From 1829 to 1835 he was professor of physiology and pathology at the University of Tartu, Tartu University at that time.

1835 took over Rathke 's successor Karl Ernst von Baer as professor of anatomy and zoology at the Albertus University of Königsberg. 1852/53 he was rector of the Albertina. He sat by the construction of the anatomical institute, which was used until 1935. In 1858 he reformed the Physikum.

In 1855 he was appointed a member of the Royal Society, in 1858 he was appointed the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and foreign member.

Rathke discovered the branchial arches in embryos of mammals and birds. In comparative studies on gill development, he found a bulge in the roof of the developing mouth. This, today known as Rathke's pouch formation is the starting point for the development of the anterior pituitary.

In addition, Rathke is considered one of the fathers of Zoology of the marine animals. He discovered the lancelet as a separate species and dealt with crustaceans and molluscs.

Rathke had been married to Martha Elmire Malonek. One of his sons was the chemist Bernhard Rathke.

Works

Rathke wrote more than 125 articles, monographs and books. selection:

  • Studies on the formation and development of the crayfish. Leipzig, in 1829.
  • Essays on education and development history of the people and the animals. 2 vols. Leipzig, F. C. W. Vogel, 1832-1833.
  • On the Origin of pituitary gland. Archive for anatomy, physiology and scientific medicine, Berlin, 1838: 482-485.
  • Evolution of the snake. Königsberg, 1839.
  • Remarks on the construction of amphioxus lanceolatus, a fish from the order of cyclo Tomas. Königsberg, 1841.
  • On the development of turtles. Braunschweig, 1848.
  • Studies on the development and build of the crocodiles. Braunschweig, 1866.
  • Evolution of vertebrates. Leipzig 1861.
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