Virchow, Rudolf [key], 1821–1902, German pathologist, a founder of cellular pathology. He became professor at the Univ. of Würzburg (1849) and professor and director of the Pathological Institute, Berlin (1856). He contributed to nearly every branch of medical science as well as to anthropology, and he introduced sanitary reforms in Berlin. Virchow was a member of the Prussian lower house and later of the Reichstag (1880–93) and he was a leader of the liberal Progressive party opposed to Bismarck. He founded (1847) the Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medizin and wrote numerous works, including Die Cellularpathologie (1858, tr. 1860).
See E. H. Ackerknecht, Rudolf Virchow (1954).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Medicine: Biographies
