Carl Heitzmann

Carl Heitzmann (October 2, 1836 - December 6, 1896) was an Austrian pathologist and dermatologist who was born in Vinkovci, which today is part of Croatia. He studied medicine in Budapest and Vienna, and earned his doctorate in 1859. After graduation he furthered his studies in Vienna under Franz Schuh (1804-1864), Ferdinand Hebra (1816-1880), Salomon Stricker (1834-1898), and Carl Rokitansky (1804-1878). When he was unable to succeed Rokitansky as the chair of pathology at Vienna in 1878, he emigrated to New York, where he was one of the founders of the American Dermatological Association (ADA).

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Heitzmann specialized in the study of cellular pathology and anatomy. He is credited for being the first physician to describe the precursor corpuscles of blood cells, which he referred to as hematoblasts. In 1872 he documented his findings in a treatise titled Studien am Knochen und Knorpel, where he mentions that his discovery of the hematoblast was in the bone marrow of an injured dog's leg.

Heitzmann was also a skilled illustrator and lithographer, and renowned for his work with water colors. Along with Anton Elfinger (1821-1864), he was responsible for the scientific illustrations of the Vienna Medical School. Among his many artistic works are the water color illustrations he created in Hebra's 1876 Atlas der Hautkrankheiten (Atlas of Skin Diseases).

References

• Journal of Investigative Dermatology
• The Description of the Hematoblast