Illustrations of cells with chromosomes and mitosis, from the book Zell-substanz, Kern und Zelltheilung, 1882

Walther Flemming (born April 21, 1843 in Sachsenberg, Germany; died August 4, 1905 in Kiel) was a founder of the study of cytogenetics. Image File history File links Zell-substanz-book-illustrations. ... Image File history File links Zell-substanz-book-illustrations. ... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... August 4 is the 216th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (217th in leap years), with 149 days remaining. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Statistics State: Schleswig-Holstein District: Independent city Area: 113. ... A metaphase cell positive for the bcr/abl rearrangement using FISH Cytogenetics is the study of the structure of chromosome material. ...

He was born as the fifth child and only son of the psychiatrist Carl Friedrich Flemming (1799-1880) and his second wife, Auguste Winter. He did his basic studies at the Gymnasium der Residenzstadt, where one of his colleagues and lifelong friends was writer Heinrich Seidel [1]. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ...

Flemming trained in medicine at the University of Rostock, graduating in 1868. Afterwards. he served in 1870-1871 as a military physician at the Franco-Prussian War. From 1873 to 1876 he worked as a teacher at the University of Prague. In 1876 he accepted a post as a professor of anatomy at the University of Kiel, where he stayed until 1901, shortly before his death, and where he became the director of the Anatomical Institute. See also Medical doctor (BE), Physician (AE), and Medical school. ... The University of Rostock (German: Universität Rostock) is a university in northern Germany, located in the city of Rostock in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and is the oldest university in Northern Europe. ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... The Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870 – May 10, 1871) was fought between France and Prussia (backed by the North German Confederation) allied with the south German states of Baden, Bavaria and Württemberg. ... 1873 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calaber). ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... The Charles University of Prague (also simply University of Prague; Czech: Univerzita Karlova; Latin: Universitas Carolina) is the oldest and most prestigious Czech university and among the oldest universities in Europe, being founded in 1340s (for the exact year, see below). ... Anatomical drawing of the human muscles from the Encyclopédie. ... The University of Kiel, in full the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (in short: CAU), is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Making use of aniline dyes he was able to find a structure which strongly absorbed basophilic dyes, which he named chromatin. He identified that chromatin was correlated to threadlike structures in the cell nucleus— the chromosomes (meaning coloured body), which were thus named later on by Wilhelm von Waldeyer-Hartz. The Belgian scientist Edouard Van Beneden (1846-1910) had independently observed them, too. R-phrases , , , , , , S-phrases , , , , , , , Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... Yarn drying after being dyed in the early American tradition, at Conner Prairie living history museum. ... Basophilic is a technical term used by histologists. ... Chromatin says screw you people. ... In cell biology, the nucleus (from Latin nucleus or nuculeus, kernel) is found in all eukaryotic cells that contains most of the cells genetic material. ... This article is about the biological chromosome. ... Edouard Van Beneden (1846-1910) was a professor of zoology at the university of Liège; he has been at the basis of the genetic studies of the 20th century, thanks to his works on a parasite of the horse, that made him discover how chromosomes combined during reproduction. ...

Flemming investigated the process of cell division and the splitting of chromosomes into identical halves. He called this process mitosis from the Greek word for thread. He studied mitosis both in vivo and in stained preparations, using as the source of biological material the fins and gills of salamanders. These results were published in 1882 in the seminal book Zell-substanz, Kern und Zelltheilung (1882; Cytoplasm, Nucleus and Cell Division). On the basis of his discoveries, Flemming surmised for the first time that all cell nuclei came from another predecessor nucleus (he coined the famous catch phrase omnis nucleus e nucleo). Cell division is the process by which a cell (called the parent cell) divides into two cells (called daughter cells). ... Light micrograph of a newt lung cell in early anaphase of mitosis. ... In vivo (Latin for (with)in the living). ... A fin is a surface used to produce lift and thrust or to steer while traveling in water, air, or other fluid media. ... gills of a Smooth Newt In aquatic organisms, gills are a respiratory organ for the extraction of oxygen from water and for the excretion of carbon dioxide. ... Suborders Cryptobranchoidea Salamandroidea Sirenoidea Salamander is the common name applied to approximately 500 reptilian vertebrates with slender bodies, short legs, and long tails (order Caudata or Urodela). ... 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Flemming was unaware of Gregor Mendel's (1822-1884) work on heredity, so he did not make the connection between his observations and genetic inheritance. Two decades would pass before the significance of Flemming's work was truly realized with the rediscovery of Mendel's rules. His discovery of mitosis and chromosomes is considered one of the 100 most important scientific discoveries of all times [2], and one of the 10 most important discoveries in cell biology [3] (together with August Weismann's (1834-1914) discovery of meiosis, Theodor Schwann (1810-1882) and Matthias Schleiden's (1804-1881) cell theory and Thomas Hunt Morgan's (1866-1945) first genetic maps). Gregor Johann Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20, 1822 – January 6, 1884) was an Austrian monk who is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. ... Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characteristics from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and/or laws). ... Cell biology (also called cellular biology or cytology, from the Greek kytos, container) is an academic discipline which studies cells. ... August Friedrich Leopold Weismann (January 17, 1834 - November 5, 1914) was a German biologist. ... In biology, meiosis is the process that transforms one diploid cell into four haploid cells in eukaryotes in order to redistribute the diploids cells genome. ... Theodor Schwann (December 7, 1810 - January 11, 1882) was a German physiologist, histologist and cytologist. ... Matthias Jakob Schleiden (April 5, 1804 - June 23, 1881) was a German botanist and co-founder of the cell theory. ... Cell theory is a scientific theory that is one of the foundations of biology. ... Thomas Hunt Morgan Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 — December 4, 1945) was an American geneticist. ... A genetic map is a chromosome map of a species that shows the position of its known genes and/or markers relative to each other, rather than as specific physical points on each chromosome. ...

Flemming's name is honoured by a medal awarded by the German Society for Cell Biology (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Zellbiologie).

Reference

• Paweletz, N. Walther Flemming, Pioneer of Mitosis Research. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 2, 72-75 (2001) PMID 11413469. (Full text article for subscribers of Nature)
• Flemming, W. Beitrage zur Kenntniss der Zelle und ihrer Lebenserscheinungen. Arch. Mikroskop. Anat. 16:302-436 (1878) and 18:151-289 (1880). Reprinted in: J. Cell Biol. 25:581-589 (1965).
• Carlson, E.A. The Analysis of Mitosis Shifts Attention to the Chromosomes. In: Mendel's Legacy. The Origins of Classical Genetics. p. 24-5, CSHL Press, 2004. ISBN 0879696753.

External links

• Walther Flemming Biography]. Lasker Labs
• Zell-substanz, Kern und Zelltheilung. Original text of the book, in PDF (In German).
• Walter Flemming Medaille. In PDF, in German.