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Carl Ludwig

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19 views4 pages

Carl Ludwig

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edwina.jane.hunter
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Carl Ludwig

Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (German: [ˈluːtvɪç];


29 December 1816 – 23 April 1895) was a German Carl Ludwig
ForMemRS
physician and physiologist. His work as both a
researcher and teacher had a major influence on the
understanding, methods and apparatus used in almost
all branches of physiology.

In 1842, Ludwig became a professor of physiology and


in 1846 of comparative anatomy. From professorships
in Zurich and Vienna he went in 1865 to the University
of Leipzig and developed there the Physiological
Institute, designated today after him: Carl Ludwig
Institute of Physiology.[1] Ludwig researched several
topics such as the physiology of blood pressure,
urinary excretion, and anesthesia. He received the
Copley Medal in 1884 for his research. In 1869, he
was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish
Born Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig
Academy of Sciences. He is credited for inventing the
29 December 1816
stromuhr.
Witzenhausen
Since 1932, the Carl Ludwig Honorary Medal is Died 23 April 1895 (aged 78)
awarded by the German Society for Cardiology to Leipzig, German Empire
outstanding investigators in the area of cardiovascular Known for Ludwig–Soret effect
research. Kymograph
Awards Copley Medal (1884)
ForMemRS (1875)
Life Scientific career
Ludwig was born at Witzenhausen, near Kassel, and Fields Physiology
studied medicine at Erlangen and Marburg, taking his
doctor's degree at Marburg in 1839. He made Marburg his home for the next ten years, studying and
teaching anatomy and physiology, first as prosector to FL Fick (1841), then as privat-docent (1842), and
finally as extraordinary professor (1846). In 1849 he was chosen professor of anatomy and physiology at
Zurich, and 6 years afterwards he went to Vienna as professor in the Josephinum school for military
surgeons.[2]
In 1865 Ludwig was appointed to the newly created chair of physiology at Leipzig, and continued there
until his death on 23 April 1895.[2]

Appraisal
Ludwig's name is prominent in the history of physiology, and he
had a large share in bringing about the change in the method of
that science that took place in the middle of the 19th century.
With his friends Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz,
Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke, and Emil du Bois-Reymond, whom
he met for the first time in Berlin in 1847, he rejected the
assumption that the phenomena of living animals depend on
special biological laws and vital forces different from those that
operate in the domain of inorganic nature; and he sought to
explain them by reference to the same laws as are applicable in
the case of physical and chemical phenomena.[2]

This point of view was expressed in Ludwig's celebrated Text-


book of Human Physiology (1852–1856), but it is as evident in
his earliest paper (1842) on the process of urinary secretion as
in all his subsequent work. Ludwig exercised enormous Carl Ludwig in 1856
influence on the progress of physiology, not only by the
discoveries he made, but also by the new methods and apparatus
he introduced to its service. Thus, in regard to secretion, he showed that secretory glands, such as the
submaxillary, are more than mere filters, and that their secretory action is attended by chemical and
thermal changes both in themselves and in the blood passing through them.[2]

Ludwig demonstrated the existence of a new class of secretory nerves that control this action, and by
showing that if the nerves are appropriately stimulated the salivary glands continue to secrete, even
though the animal be decapitated, he initiated the method of experimenting with excised organs. He
devised the kymograph as a means of obtaining a written record of the variations in the pressure of the
blood in the blood vessels; and this apparatus not only conducted him to many important conclusions
respecting the mechanics of the circulation, but afforded the first instance of the use of the graphic
method in physiological inquiries. For researches on blood gases, he designed the mercurial blood-pump
that, with various modifications, has come into extensive use. He used it for many investigations into
gases of the lymph, the gaseous interchanges in living muscle, the significance of oxidized material in the
blood, etc.[2]

There is indeed scarcely any branch of physiology, except the physiology of the senses, to which Ludwig
did not make important contributions. He was also a great power as a teacher and the founder of a school.
Under him the Physiological Institute at Leipzig became an organized center of physiological research,
whence issued a steady stream of original work; and though the papers containing the results usually bore
the name of his pupils only, every investigation was inspired by him and carried out under his personal
direction. Thus, his pupils gained a practical acquaintance with his methods and ways of thought, and,
coming from all parts of Europe, they returned to their own countries to spread and extend his doctrines.
Possessed himself of extraordinary manipulative skill, he abhorred rough and clumsy work, and he
insisted that experiments on animals should be planned and prepared with the utmost care, not only to
avoid the infliction of pain (which was also guarded against by the use of an anesthetic), but to ensure
that the deductions drawn from them should have their full scientific value. [2]

Notes
1. Current website of the Carl-Ludwig-Institute of Physiology http://cliphys.uniklinikum-
leipzig.de/
2. Chisholm 1911, p. 114.

References
Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh,
ed. (1911). "Ludwig, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.).
Cambridge University Press. p. 114.

Further reading
Luderitz B.: Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig (1816–1895). – Source Journal of Interventional
Cardiac Electrophysiology 2004 Dec;11(3):221-2. PMID 15548890 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nl
m.nih.gov/15548890)
Zimmer HG.: The contributions of Carl Ludwig to cardiology. Can. J. Cardiol. 1999
Mar;15(3):323-9. PMID 10202196 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10202196)
Davis JM, Thurau K, Haberle D.: Carl Ludwig: the discoverer of glomerular filtration. –
Nephrol. Dial. Transplant. 1996 Apr;11(4):717-20. PMID 8671870 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.n
ih.gov/8671870)
Schubert E.: The theory of and experimentation into respiratory gas exchange—Carl Ludwig
and his school. Pflügers Archiv (Pflügers Arch.) 1996;432(3 Suppl):R111-9. PMID 8994552
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8994552)
Seller H.: Carl Ludwig and the localization of the medullary vasomotor center: old and new
concepts of the generation of sympathetic tone. Pflügers Arch. 1996;432(3 Suppl):R94-8.
PMID 8994549 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8994549)
Thurau K, Davis JM, Haberle DA.: Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig: the founder of modern
renal physiology. Pflügers Arch. 1996;432(3 Suppl):R68-72. PMID 8994545 (https://pubmed.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8994545)
Schröer H.: Relevance and reliability of Ludwig's scientific conceptions of the physiology of
the microcirculation. Pflügers Arch. 1996;432(3 Suppl):R23-32. PMID 8994539 (https://pubm
ed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8994539)
Zimmer HG.: Carl Ludwig: the man, his time, his influence. Pflügers Arch. 1996;432(3
Suppl):R9-22. PMID 8994538 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8994538)
Ludwig CF.: 1842—a landmark in nephrology: Carl Ludwig's revolutionary concept of renal
function. Kidney Int(ernational). Suppl. 1994 Oct;46:1–23. PMID 7823448 (https://pubmed.n
cbi.nlm.nih.gov/7823448)
Fye WB.: Carl Ludwig. Clin. Cardiol. 1991 Apr;14(4):361-3. PMID 2032415 (https://pubmed.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2032415)
Fye WB.: Carl Ludwig and the Leipzig Physiological Institute: 'a factory of new knowledge'.
Circulation. 1986 Nov;74(5):920-8. PMID 3533314 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/353331
4)

External links
Short biography and bibliography (http://vlp.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/people/data?id=per110) in
the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carl_Ludwig&oldid=1245494286"

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