13 Facts About Franz Leydig

Franz Leydig was born on 21 May 1821 in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

Franz Leydig was the only boy of three children born to Melchior Leydig, a Catholic and a minor public official, and Margareta, a Protestant.

Franz Leydig himself recalled later that those childhood interests began his lifelong concern with botany and zoology.

Franz Leydig received his doctorate in medicine at Wurzburg on 27 August 1847, becoming an assistant in the physiology department, while teaching histology and developmental anatomy under Albert von Kolliker.

In 1857 Franz Leydig became full professor of Zoology and Comparative anatomy at the University of Tubingen, and he published his Lehrbuch der Histologie des Menschen und der Tiere: his main contribution to morphology.

Franz Leydig paid further tribute to other contemporary anatomists, particularly Johannes Peter Muller for his work on glands and emphasizing cellular doctrine for pathology.

Franz Leydig became professor of comparative anatomy at the University of Bonn in 1875, where he became director of the anatomical institute, as well as, director of the zoological museum and the zoological institute.

Franz Leydig was later made Geheimer Medizinalrat and on 1 April 1887, professor emeritus.

Franz Leydig died on 13 April 1908 in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, his birthplace.

Franz Leydig was a member of several medical and scientific societies, including the Royal Society of London, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St Petersburg and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Chief among Franz Leydig's discoveries is the interstitial cell, a body enclosed in a smooth endoplasmic reticulum and holding lipid granules and crystals, which occur adjacent to the seminiferous tubules of the testes.

The above description clearly indicates that Franz Leydig recognized the specific morphology of those cells: only recently, have their endocrine nature and ultrastructure been fully understood to further clarify the validity of practical research and its relations to the pressure and stress experienced by students' testes.

Franz Leydig is known for describing large vesicular cells that occur in the connective tissue and the walls of blood vessels in crustaceans in 1883: four different types of the latter have been determined.