49 Facts About Theodor Schwann

Theodor Schwann was born in Neuss on 7 December 1810 to Leonard Schwann and Elisabeth Rottels.

Theodor Schwann studied at the Dreikonigsgymnasium, a Jesuit school in Cologne.

In 1829, Theodor Schwann enrolled at the University of Bonn in the premedical curriculum.

In 1831, Theodor Schwann moved to the University of Wurzburg for clinical training in medicine.

Theodor Schwann's thesis involved a careful study of the necessity for oxygen during the embryonic development of the chicken.

Theodor Schwann passed the state examination to practice medicine in the summer of 1834, but he chose to continue to work with Muller, doing research rather than practicing medicine.

Theodor Schwann could afford to do so, at least in the short term, because of a family inheritance.

From 1834 to 1839, Theodor Schwann worked as an assistant to Muller in at the Anatomisch-zootomische Museum at the University of Berlin.

Theodor Schwann carried out a series of microscopic and physiological experiments focused on studying the structure and function of nerves, muscles and blood vessels.

Theodor Schwann's work complemented that of Matthias Jakob Schleiden in plants and was informed by it; the two were close friends.

Theodor Schwann was able to identify important scientific questions and design experiments to systematically test them.

Theodor Schwann's writing has been described as accessible, and his logic as a "clear progression".

Theodor Schwann identified the question that he wanted to answer and communicated the importance of his findings effectively to others.

Theodor Schwann's co-worker Jakob Henle spoke of him as having an "inborn drive" to experiment.

Theodor Schwann hoped to return to Bonn, a Catholic city.

Theodor Schwann attempted to gain a professorship there in 1838 and again in 1846, but was disappointed.

Theodor Schwann spent considerable time perfecting experimental techniques and instruments for use in experiments.

In examining processes such as muscle contraction, fermentation, digestion, and putrefaction, Theodor Schwann sought to show that living phenomena were the result of physical causes rather than "some immaterial vital force".

However, other authors regard this as misrepresenting his thinking, and reject the idea that Theodor Schwann went through an existential crisis or a mystical phase.

At Liege, Theodor Schwann continued to follow the latest advances in anatomy and physiology but did not himself make major new discoveries.

Theodor Schwann was presented with a unique gift: a book containing 263 autographed photographic portraits of scientists from various countries, each of them sent by the scientist to be part of the gift for Schwann.

Three years after retiring, Theodor Schwann died in Cologne, on 11 January 1882.

Theodor Schwann was buried in the family tomb in Cologne's Melaten Cemetery.

Theodor Schwann developed and described an experimental method to calculate the contraction force of the muscle, by controlling and measuring the other variables involved.

Theodor Schwann's notes suggest that he hoped to discover regularities and laws of physiological processes.

Theodor Schwann realized that other substances in digestive juices might help to break down food.

At the beginning of 1836, Theodor Schwann began to study digestive processes.

Theodor Schwann conceptualized digestion as the action of a physiological agent, which, though not immediately visible or measurable, could be characterized experimentally as a "peculiar specific substance".

Theodor Schwann demonstrated that it could break down the albumin from egg-white into peptones.

Theodor Schwann went beyond others who simply had noted the multiplication of yeast during alcoholic fermentation, first by assigning yeast the role of a primary causal factor, and then by claiming it was alive.

Theodor Schwann used the microscope to carry out a carefully planned series of experiments that contraindicated two popular theories of fermentation in yeast.

Theodor Schwann sterilized the air by passing it through heated glass bulbs.

Theodor Schwann had demonstrated that fermentation required the presence of yeasts to start, and stopped when the yeasts stopped growing.

Theodor Schwann concluded that sugar was converted to alcohol as part of an organic biological process based on the action of a living substance, the yeast.

Theodor Schwann demonstrated that fermentation was not an inorganic chemical process like sugar oxidation.

Ironically, Theodor Schwann's work was later seen as being a first step away from vitalism.

Theodor Schwann was the first of Muller's pupils to work towards a physico-chemical explanation of life.

Theodor Schwann's view furthered a conceptualization of living things in terms of the biological reactions of organic chemistry, while Liebig sought to reduce biological reactions to purely inorganic chemistry.

Pasteur would begin his fermentation research in 1857 by repeating and confirming Theodor Schwann's work, accepting that yeast were alive, and then taking fermentation research further.

Theodor Schwann remembered seeing similar structures in the cells of the notochord and instantly realized the importance of connecting the two phenomena.

In further experiments, Theodor Schwann examined notochordal tissue and cartilage from toad larvae, as well as tissues from pig embryos, establishing that animal tissues are composed of cells, each of which has a nucleus.

Theodor Schwann published his observations in 1838 in the Neue notisen geb.

Theodor Schwann drew three further conclusions about cells, which formed his cell theory or cell doctrine.

Theodor Schwann hypothesized that living cells formed in ways similar to the formation of crystals.

Theodor Schwann discovered that muscle tissue in the upper esophagus was striated.

Theodor Schwann speculated that the muscular nature of the esophagus enabled it to act as a pipe, moving food between the mouth and the stomach.

In examining teeth, Theodor Schwann was the first to notice "cylindrical cells" connected to both the inner surface of the enamel and the pulp.

Theodor Schwann identified fibrils in the dentinal tubes, which later became known as "Tomes's fibers".

Theodor Schwann speculated on the possible structural and functional significance of the tubes and fibrils.