Heinrich Müller (physiologist)

Heinrich Müller (December 17, 1820 -- May 10, 1864) was a German anatomist and professor at the University of Würzburg. He is best known for his work in comparative anatomy and his studies regarding the eye.

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In 1851 Müller noticed the red color in rod cells known as rhodopsin or visual purple, which is a pigment in the rods of the retina. However, Franz Christian Boll (1849-1879) is credited as the discoverer of rhodopsin because he was able to describe its visual pigment cycle. Müller also described the fibers of neuroglia cells that make up the supporting framework of the retina. This structure was to become known as Müller's fibers.

in 1856 he and Swiss physiologist Rudolf Albert von Kölliker became the first to discover that the contractions of a frog's heart produce an electrical current.

Additional eponyms

Müller's muscle: Circular portion of the ciliary muscle of the eye, sometimes called Rouget's muscle after French physiologist Charles Marie Benjamin Rouget (1824-1904), or Horner's muscle after German physician Johann Friedrich Horner (1831-1886). The name Horner's muscle is often used because of its association with Horner's syndrome.
Müller's trigone: Part of tuber cinereum folding over the optic chiasm of the brain.

Partial Bibliography

Nachweis der negativen Schwankung des Muskelstroms am naturlich sich contrahirenden Muskel. Verhandlungen der Physikalisch-medizinische Gesellschaft in Würzburg, 1856, 6: 528-533. By Rudolph Albert von Kölliker (1817-1905) and Heinrich Müller
Zur Histologie der Netzhaut. Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 1851, 3: 234-237. Discovery of visual purple.