23 Facts About Gustaf Retzius

Prof Magnus Gustaf Retzius FRSFor HFRSE MSA was a Swedish physician and anatomist who dedicated a large part of his life to researching the histology of the sense organs and nervous system.

Gustaf Retzius enrolled at Uppsala University in 1860, and received his medicine kandidat degree there in 1866, transferred to the Karolinska Institute, where he received a Licentiate of Medical Science degree in 1869 and completed his doctorate in medicine in 1871 at Lund University.

Gustaf Retzius worked as an assistant under pathologist Axel Key; the two had a long partnership, publishing research together and the popular science.

Gustaf Retzius received an extraordinary professorship in histology at the Karolinska Institute in 1877 and an ordinary professorship in anatomy there in 1889, but resigned in 1890 after conflicts with other members of the institute.

Gustaf Retzius traveled outside of Europe twice, both times together with his wife Anna.

Gustaf Retzius published articles from the trip in Aftonbladet, which later came to be published as a book Skizzer och uppsatser: Bilder fran Nilens land.

Soon the sellers realized that Gustaf Retzius was a customer who could pay and they came to the boat and offered their goods and items directly from the beach.

Gustaf Retzius was looking for skulls for his anthropological studies and managed to acquire 30 "mummies" during an excursion from Aswan to some rock graves across the Nile where a "caretaker" on site sold the skulls to Gustaf Retzius.

Once back in Cairo, Gustaf Retzius had the opportunity to meet the famous Henry Morton Stanley, who just performed his failed expedition to liberate Emin Pascha.

Large parts of Gustaf Retzius's collections are available at Medelhavsmuseet in Stockholm and at the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm.

Also during this trip, Gustaf Retzius reported in articles in Aftonbladet under the heading "Pictures from North America".

In Bella Bella, they met Adrian Jacobsen's brother Filip Jacobsen who made it possible for Anna and Gustaf Retzius to visit several different places during a 12-day trip and to purchase ethnographic collections.

Gustaf Retzius did not get as many skulls during this trip in comparison to the Egyptian journey, but he managed to acquire four so-called "longhead" skulls.

Large parts of the collections Gustaf Retzius acquired during his journey can be found at the Ethnographic Museum.

Gustaf Retzius published more than 300 scientific works in anatomy, embryology, eugenics, craniometry, zoology and botany.

Gustaf Retzius gave his name to the 60 micrometer-diameter Retzius cells in the central nervous system of the leech.

Gustaf Retzius studied ancient Swedish and Finnish skulls, following the steps of his father Anders Retzius, who had studied the crania of different human "races" and made pseudoscientific contributions to phrenology.

Gustaf Retzius was one of the fathers of the pseudoscientific race theory, "scientific racism", trying to glorify the "Nordic race" as the highest race of mankind.

Together with his wife he founded the Hierta-Gustaf Retzius foundation, which is administered by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which Gustaf Retzius was a member of from 1879.

In 1901 Gustaf Retzius became a member of the Swedish Academy, following Adolf Erik Nordenskiold's demise.

Gustaf Retzius was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Gustaf Retzius himself was a Nobel Prize nominee himself 23 times, in 11 different years from 1901 to 1916.

In 1903, Gustaf Retzius was named an honorary member of the American Association for Anatomy.