PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: physiology
German scientist and philosopher
Hermann von Helmholtz, German scientist and philosopher who made fundamental contributions to physiology, optics, electrodynamics, mathematics, and meteorology. He is best known for his statement of the...
French scientist
Claude Bernard, French physiologist known chiefly for his discoveries concerning the role of the pancreas in digestion, the glycogenic function of the liver, and the regulation of the blood supply by the...
Russian physiologist
Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist known chiefly for his development of the concept of the conditioned reflex. In a now-classic experiment, he trained a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a metronome...
Greek physician
Galen, Greek physician, writer, and philosopher who exercised a dominant influence on medical theory and practice in Europe from the Middle Ages until the mid-17th century. His authority in the Byzantine...
Italian physiologist
Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions and animal reproduction. His investigations into the development of microscopic...
Belgian scientist
Jan Baptista van Helmont, Flemish physician, philosopher, mystic, and chemist who recognized the existence of discrete gases and identified carbon dioxide. Van Helmont was born into a wealthy family of...
German physiologist
Johannes Müller, German physiologist and comparative anatomist, one of the great natural philosophers of the 19th century. His major work was Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen für Vorlesungen, 2 vol....
Romanian physiologist
Nicolas C. Paulescu, Romanian physiologist who conducted groundbreaking research on the antidiabetic hormone insulin and whose anti-Semitic writings contributed to the rise of the fascist Iron Guard movement...
German botanist
Julius von Sachs, German botanist whose experimental study of nutrition, tropism, and transpiration of water greatly advanced the knowledge of plant physiology, and the cause of experimental biology in...
Swiss biologist
Albrecht von Haller, Swiss biologist, the father of experimental physiology, who made prolific contributions to physiology, anatomy, botany, embryology, poetry, and scientific bibliography. At the University...
American pharmacologist
Ferid Murad, American pharmacologist who, along with Robert F. Furchgott and Louis J. Ignarro, was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as...
British physiologist
Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist whose 50 years of experimentation laid the foundations for an understanding of integrated nervous function in higher animals and brought him (with Edgar...
Australian physiologist
Sir John Carew Eccles, Australian research physiologist who received (with Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley) the 1963 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the chemical means by which...
American pharmacologist
Robert F. Furchgott, American pharmacologist who, along with Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad, was co-awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts...
British medical researcher
Robert Edwards, British medical researcher who developed the technique of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Edwards, together with British gynecologist Patrick Steptoe, refined IVF for the human egg. Their...
British physiologist
Ernest Henry Starling, British physiologist whose prolific contributions to a modern understanding of body functions, especially the maintenance of a fluid balance throughout the tissues, the regulatory...
British surgeon
John Hunter, surgeon, founder of pathological anatomy in England, and early advocate of investigation and experimentation. He also carried out many important studies and experiments in comparative aspects...
American pharmacologist
Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist who, along with Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad, was co-awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as...
American botanist
Dennis Robert Hoagland, American plant physiologist and authority on plant and soil interactions. Hoagland graduated from Stanford University (1907) with a major in chemistry. In 1908 he became an instructor...
Czech physiologist
Jan Evangelista Purkinje, pioneer Czech experimental physiologist whose investigations in the fields of histology, embryology, and pharmacology helped create a modern understanding of the eye and vision,...
English scientist
Stephen Hales, English botanist, physiologist, and clergyman who pioneered quantitative experimentation in plant and animal physiology. While a divinity student at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he...
British physiologist
Sir William Maddock Bayliss, British physiologist, co-discoverer (with the British physiologist Ernest Starling) of hormones; he conducted pioneer research in major areas of physiology, biochemistry, and...
German physiologist
Carl F.W. Ludwig, a founder of the physicochemical school of physiology in Germany. A professor of physiology at the universities of Marburg (1846–49), Zürich (1849–55), Vienna (1855–65), and Leipzig (1865–95),...
German physiologist and psychologist
Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist and psychologist who is generally acknowledged as the founder of experimental psychology. Wundt earned a medical degree at the University of Heidelberg in 1856. After...
German physiologist
Theodor Schwann, German physiologist who founded modern histology by defining the cell as the basic unit of animal structure. Schwann studied at the Jesuits’ College at Cologne before attending the University...
British geneticist
J.B.S. Haldane, British geneticist, biometrician, physiologist, and popularizer of science who opened new paths of research in population genetics and evolution. Son of the noted physiologist John Scott...
British entomologist
Sir Vincent Wigglesworth, English entomologist, noted for his contribution to the study of insect physiology. His investigations of the living insect body and its tissues and organs revealed much about...
Swedish physiologist
Ragnar Arthur Granit, Finnish-born Swedish physiologist who was a corecipient (with George Wald and Haldan Hartline) of the 1967 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his analysis of the internal...
British physiologist
Marshall Hall, English physiologist who was the first to advance a scientific explanation of reflex action. While maintaining a highly successful private medical practice in London (1826–53), Hall conducted...
German physiologist
Ernst Heinrich Weber, German anatomist and physiologist whose fundamental studies of the sense of touch introduced a concept—that of the just-noticeable difference, the smallest difference perceivable...
German physician
Franciscus Sylvius, physician, physiologist, anatomist, and chemist who is considered the founder of the 17th-century iatrochemical school of medicine, which held that all phenomena of life and disease...
British biophysicist
Sir Alan Hodgkin, English physiologist and biophysicist, who received (with Andrew Fielding Huxley and Sir John Eccles) the 1963 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the chemical...
British physiologist and biophysicist
A.V. Hill, British physiologist and biophysicist who received (with Otto Meyerhof) the 1922 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the production of heat in muscles. His research...
French anatomist and physiologist
Marie-François-Xavier Bichat, French anatomist and physiologist whose systematic study of human tissues helped found the science of histology. Bichat studied anatomy and surgery under Marc-Antoine Petit,...
French physiologist and politician
Paul Bert, French physiologist, politician, and diplomat, founder of modern aerospace medicine, whose research into the effects of air pressure on the body helped make possible the exploration of space...
Swiss physiologist
Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, who received (with António Egas Moniz) the 1949 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering the role played by certain parts of the brain in determining...
German physiologist
Carl von Voit, German physiologist whose definitive measurements of gross metabolism in mammals, including humans, helped establish the study of the physiology of metabolism and laid much of the foundation...
German physiologist
Moritz Schiff, German physiologist who investigated the effects produced by removal of the thyroid gland. A graduate of the University of Göttingen (M.D., 1844) and a student of the French physiologist...
American plant physiologist
Kenneth V. Thimann, English-born American plant physiologist who isolated auxin, an important plant growth hormone. Thimann studied chemistry at Imperial College in London, where he received a Ph.D. in...
British physiologist
Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, English physiologist, cowinner (with Sir Alan Hodgkin and Sir John Carew Eccles) of the 1963 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. His researches centred on nerve and muscle...
American physiologist
Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist who was a cowinner (with George Wald and Ragnar Granit) of the 1967 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work in analyzing the neurophysiological...
American physicist and physiologist
Georg von Békésy, American physicist and physiologist who received the 1961 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the physical means by which sound is analyzed and communicated in...
British physiologist
John Scott Haldane, British physiologist and philosopher chiefly noted for his work on the physiology of respiration. Haldane developed several procedures for studying the physiology of breathing and the...
British physiologist
Sir Henry Dale, English physiologist who in 1936 shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with the German pharmacologist Otto Loewi for their discoveries in the chemical transmission of nerve...
German botanist
Hugo von Mohl, German botanist noted for his research on the anatomy and physiology of plant cells. Von Mohl received his degree in medicine from the University of Tübingen in 1828. After studying for...
French physiologist
Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens, French physiologist who was the first to demonstrate experimentally the general functions of the major portions of the vertebrate brain. After receiving his medical degree from...
British physiologist
Richard Darwin Keynes, British physiologist who was among the first in Britain to trace the movements of sodium and potassium during the transmission of a nerve impulse by using radioactive sodium and...
American physiologist
Roger Guillemin, French-born American physiologist whose research into the hormones produced by the hypothalamus gland resulted in his being awarded a share (along with Andrew Schally and Rosalyn Yalow)...
Dutch-Italian physiologist and philosopher
Jacob Moleschott, physiologist and philosopher noted for his belief in the material basis of emotion and thought. His most important work, Kreislauf des Lebens (1852; “The Circuit of Life”), added considerable...
French physiologist
Henri Dutrochet, French physiologist who discovered and named the phenomenon of osmosis (the passage of solvent through a semipermeable membrane) and was the first to recognize the importance of green...
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