Paul Langerhans

  Paul Langerhans (July 25 1847 - July 20 1888) was a famous German pathologist and biologist.

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Eponymous terms

• Islets of Langerhans - Pancreatic cells which produce insulin. Langerhans discovered these cells during his studies for his doctorate at the Berlin Pathological Institute in 1869.
• Langerhans cells - Skin cells concerned with the immune response and which sometimes contain Langerhans granules. In 1868, Langerhans used the technique taught to him by Julius Friedrich Cohnheim to stain a sample of human skin with gold chloride and identified the cells which bear his name. From their appearance, Langerhans believed they were nerve cells. However they are a form of dendritic cells.

Early education

Langerhans was born in Berlin on July 25, 1847, the son of a physician. He later entered the renowned “School of the Grey Monastery” (Graues Kloster) in the same city. Due to his outstanding performance he was exempted from the final oral examinations. He began his medical studies at the University of Jena and completed them in Berlin.

Major scientific contributions

In February 1869, he presented a thesis entitled “Contributions to the microscopic anatomy of the pancreas”, in which he refers to islands of clear cells throughout the gland, staining differently than the surrounding tissue. He noticed that these areas were more richly innervated, but he could not suggest a function, except for the incorrect hypothesis that they might be lymph nodes.

One year before, still as an undergraduate, he analysed epidermal skin cells as part of an open competition organised by Berlin University. The branched skin cells resembling neuron, described in his paper entitled “On the nerves of the human skin”, remained an enigma for over a century before their immunological function and significance were recognised.

Early career & disease

After graduation, he accompanied the geographer Richard Kiepert to Syria, Palestine and western Jordan, but returned to Europe at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War and later served in an ambulance unit in France. In 1871, Rudolf Virchow arranged a position for him as prosector in pathological anatomy at the University of Freiburg, and within two years he became a full professor. It was there in 1874 that he contracted tuberculosis, very likely because of his work in the dissecting room. In search of a cure, he travelled to Naples, Palermo, the island of Capri, and underwent treatments at Davos and Silvaplana in Switzerland, but all in vain: he was forced to apply for release from his university duties.

Consequences, Madeira & marriage

In October 1875 he embarked for Funchal on the island of Madeira, where he made a partial recovery and launched himself into a new career with undiminished energy. He began studying marine worms, making regular trips down to the harbour to pick over the fishermens’ nets. His publications describing and classifying marine invertebrates deserve to rank as his third contribution to science. In 1887, he gave a lecture on these topics to the Royal Academy in Berlin.

He practised as a physician in Funchal, treating mostly fellow tuberculosis-suffers, and published scientific papers about the condition in Virchow’s archive. Not content with this, he also wrote a handbook for travellers to the island, and pursued studies in meteorology.

In 1885, he married Margarethe Ebart, the widow of one of his patients. They travelled to Berlin for the wedding, and he met his father, sisters and two brothers for the last time. The newly-weds rented Quinta Lambert, known as the most beautiful villa in Funchal and now the governor’s residence. In the words of his new bride “three indescribably happy years” followed.

Death

It was not to last. In autumn of 1887, progressive renal failure brought his medical activities to an end. He developed leg oedema, crippling headaches and transient memory loss. Sometimes he stopped in the middle of a sentence and was unable to continue. He died of uraemia on July 20, 1888, 5 days before his 41st birthday. He is buried in the British cemetery on Madeira, a place he had chosen, describing it as a “true graveyard, isolated and quiet, a good place to rest”.

Little did he dream that his name would be known to all future students of medicine.

References

• B.M. Hausen (1988): Die Inseln des Paul Langerhans. Eine Biographie in Bildern und Dokumenten. Ueberrreuter Wissenschaft, Wien. [Translation: The islets of Paul Langerhans. A biography in pictures and documents.]
• B.M. Hausen (2005). Diabetologia. Springer. http://www.diabetologia-journal.org/past%20masters/langerhans.htm
• B.G. Firkin & J.A.Whitworth (1987). Dictionary of Medical Eponyms. Parthenon Publishing. ISBN 1-85070-333-7