Famous German Pathologists

Rudolf Virchow was a German physician, pathologist, anthropologist, biologist, prehistorian, editor, writer, and politician. Nicknamed the Pope of medicine by his colleagues, Virchow is credited with founding the field of social medicine. He is also widely regarded as the father of modern pathology.  Rudolf Virchow was the first person to name diseases, such as thrombosis, leukemia, ochronosis, embolism, and chordoma.

Nobel Prize-winning German pathologist and bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk is best remembered for his pathbreaking discovery of Prontosil, the first sulfonamide antibiotic. The Nazis, however, didn’t allow him to accept the Nobel Prize immediately and detained him briefly instead. He had also served as a soldier in World War I.

German pathologist and anatomist Friedrich Gustav Jacob Henle is best remembered for his discovery of two of the most significant parts of the kidney, the loop of Henle and Henle's tubules. His Allgemeine Anatomie, or General Anatomy, was the first systematic written work on histology.

Pathologist Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs, considered the founder of experimental pathology, had initially been an optician and had also taught at several universities. His contributions include studies in kidney and liver diseases and research on multiple sclerosis. He also released the first German book on nephrology.