Friedrich Tiedemann

Last updated

Friedrich Tiedemann
F. Tiedemann.jpg
Tiedemann in 1820
Born(1781-08-23)23 August 1781
Cassel, Hesse-Kassel
(now Kassel, Hesse, Germany)
Died22 January 1861(1861-01-22) (aged 79)
Relatives Gustav Tiedemann (son)
Heinrich Tiedemann (son)
Scientific career
Fields Anatomy
Doctoral advisor Johann Wilhelm Christian Brühl [1]
Other academic advisors Conrad Moench
Georg Wilhelm Stein  [ de ]
Adalbert Friedrich Marcus  [ de ]
Carl Caspar von Siebold
Franz Kaspar Hesselbach
Georges Cuvier
Signature
Signature of Friedrich Tiedemann.png

Friedrich Tiedemann FRS HFRSE (23 August 1781 22 January 1861) was a German anatomist and physiologist. He was an expert on the anatomy of the brain.

Contents

Tiedemann spent most of his career as professor of anatomy and physiology at Heidelberg University, a position to which he was appointed in 1816, after having filled the chair of anatomy and zoology for ten years at Landshut. [2] He was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1827. In 1836, he was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. [3]

Life

Tiedemann was born at Cassel in Prussia (now central Germany), the eldest son of Dietrich Tiedemann (1748–1803), a philosopher and psychologist of considerable repute.

Friedrich studied medicine at Marburg, Bamberg and Würzburg Universities from 1798 and graduated in 1802. Undertaking practical experience he gained his doctorate (MD) from Marburg in 1804, but soon abandoned practice. [2]

From 1804, he became a Docent, lecturing in Physiology and Comparative Osteology at Marburg University. The following year, at only 24 years of age, he became Professor of Zoology, Human Anatomy and Comparative Anatomy at Landshut University. In 1816, he moved to Heidelberg University as Professor of Physiology and Anatomy and remained there until his retirement in 1849. [4]

He was elected a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1832 and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1838.

He died in Munich on 22 January 1861. He is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof in Munich (Old South Cemetery).

Viewpoints

The grave of Friedrich Tiedemann 42-13-14-Grab-Theodor-Bischoff-Alter-Suedl-Friedhof-Muenchen.JPG
The grave of Friedrich Tiedemann

Tiedemann devoted himself to the study of natural science, and upon moving to Paris, became an ardent follower of Georges Cuvier. On his return to Germany, he advocated for anatomical research and aligned himself with the emerging field of experimental natural science. His staunch empiricism placed him at odds with contemporary adherents of romantic Naturphilosophie, such philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling and naturalist Lorenz Oken. [2]

Tiedemann was among the first to scientifically contest racism. In his 1836 article "On the Brain of the Negro, compared with that of the European and the Orang-outang," he compared the brain weight and cranial capacity of European and black human specimens with that of apes and concluded that, contrary to the consensus among his naturalist colleagues, the two racial groups exhibited "absolutely no difference whatsoever" in brain size or structure. He further contested the notion that "there is any innate difference in the intellectual faculties of these two varieties of the human race" and attributed the perceived inferiority of black people to the deleterious effects of slavery and colonialism. [5] [6] [7]

In 1827, he became a correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands, and when that became the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1851, he joined as a foreign member. [8] He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1849. [9]

Tiedemann was influenced by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and accepted the transmutation of species. [10] Science historian Robert J. Richards has written that Tiedemann "joined the basic notion of species evolution, of a Lamarckian flavor, with the proposition that higher animals in their embryological development recapitulated the morphological stages of those lower in the scale." [11] Writing in 1913, Hans Gadow noted that Tiedemann in 1814 had identified a basic function of sexual selection in preventing less fit males from propagating, and fossils as showing gradual metamorphosis of species over geological time. [12]

In an 1854 medical-historical tract on tobacco, Tiedemann identified several adverse health effects of tobacco consumption, including cancers of the tongue brought on by smoking. [13] [14] [15]

Family

In 1807, he married Frauline von Holzing. He was later married to Charlotte Hecker.

He had a daughter Elise.

One of Tiedemann's sons, Gustav, was a casualty of the 1848 uprisings. [16]

His son Heinrich immigrated to Philadelphia and became a physician in Philadelphia's Germantown Hospital. Perhaps influenced by his father's work, he objected to the Darwinian contention of a continuity between humans and apes. [17]

Legacy

In 2007, Brazilian geneticist Sergio Pena called Tiedemann an "anti-racist ahead of his time". [18]

Works (translated)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andreas Vesalius</span> Anatomist, physician and author (1514–1564)

Andries van Wezel, latinised as Andreas Vesalius, was an anatomist and physician who wrote De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem, which is considered one of the most influential books on human anatomy and a major advance over the long-dominant work of Galen. Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. He was born in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. He was a professor at the University of Padua (1537–1542) and later became Imperial physician at the court of Emperor Charles V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Dubois</span> French anatomist (1478 – 1555)

Jacques Dubois was a French anatomist. Dubois was the first to describe venous valves, although their function was later discovered by William Harvey. He was the brother of Franciscus Sylvius Ambianus, professor of humanities at the Collège de Tournai, Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartolomeo Eustachi</span> Italian anatomist

Bartolomeo Eustachi, also known as Eustachio or by his Latin name of Bartholomaeus Eustachius, was an Italian anatomist and one of the founders of the science of human anatomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle</span> German physician, pathologist, and anatomist (1809–1885)

Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle was a German physician, pathologist, and anatomist. He is credited with the discovery of the loop of Henle in the kidney. His essay, "On Miasma and Contagia," was an early argument for the germ theory of disease. He was an important figure in the development of modern medicine.

The year 1747 in science and technology involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernhard Siegfried Albinus</span> German-born Dutch anatomist

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus was a German-born Dutch anatomist. He served a professor of medicine at the University of Leiden like his father Bernhard Albinus (1653–1721). He also published a large-format artistic atlas of human anatomy, with engravings made by Jan Wandelaar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Estienne</span>

Charles Estienne, known as Carolus Stephanus in Latin and Charles Stephens in English, was an early exponent of the science of anatomy in France. Charles was a younger brother of Robert Estienne I, the famous printer, and son to Henri, who Latinized the family name as Stephanus. He married Geneviève de Berly.

<i>De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem</i> 1543 Anatomy books written by Andreas Vesalius

De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem is a set of books on human anatomy written by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) and published in 1543. It was a major advance in the history of anatomy over the long-dominant work of Galen, and presented itself as such.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring</span> German physician, anatomist, anthropologist, paleontologist and inventor

Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring was a German physician, anatomist, anthropologist, paleontologist and inventor. Sömmerring discovered the macula in the retina of the human eye. His investigations on the brain and the nervous system, on the sensory organs, on the embryo and its malformations, on the structure of the lungs, etc., made him one of the most important German anatomists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Arnold</span>

Friedrich Arnold was professor emeritus of anatomy and physiology at Heidelberg. He read medicine at the University of Heidelberg at the same time as his elder brother, Johann Wilhelm Arnold (1801–1873).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Tyson</span> English scientist and physician, 1651–1708

Edward Tyson was an English scientist and physician. He is commonly regarded as the founder of modern comparative anatomy, which compares the anatomy between species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Govert Bidloo</span> Dutch Golden Age physician, anatomist, poet and playwright

Govert Bidloo or Govard Bidloo was a Dutch Golden Age physician, anatomist, poet and playwright. He was the personal physician of William III of Orange-Nassau, Dutch stadholder and King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcher Coiter</span> Dutch anatomist

Volcher Coiter was a Dutch anatomist who established the study of comparative osteology and first described cerebrospinal meningitis. He also studied the human eye and was able to demonstrate the replenishment of the aqueous humor. Coiter's muscle is a name sometimes used for the corrugator superciliaris that is involved in wrinkling of the eyebrow. He illustrated his works with his own meticulously detailed drawings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Vieussens</span> French anatomist (1635–1715)

Raymond Vieussens was a French anatomist from Le Vigan. There is uncertainty regarding the exact year of Vieussens birth, with some sources placing it as late as 1641.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical Renaissance</span> Period of medical advances in early modern european history

The Medical Renaissance, from around 1400 to 1700 CE, was a period of progress in European medical knowledge, with renewed interest in the ideas of the ancient Greek, Roman civilizations and Islamic medicine, following the translation into Medieval Latin of many works from these societies. Medical discoveries during the Medical Renaissance are credited with paving the way for modern medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justus Christian Loder</span> German anatomist and surgeon

Justus Ferdinand Christian Loder was a German anatomist and surgeon who was a native of Riga.

Johann Gottlieb Walter was a German physician, specialising in human anatomy.

Vincenz Fohmann was a German anatomist, born in Assamstadt, today located in Baden-Württemberg.

<i>Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris</i> 1699 book by Edward Tyson

Orang-Outang, sive Homo Sylvestris: or, the Anatomy of a Pygmie Compared with that of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man (1699) is a book by the British natural philosopher Edward Tyson. Regarded as a seminal work on anatomy, this volume led to Tyson being known as the father of comparative anatomy. The book characterizes in detail the anatomy of a creature described as a pygmy and contains Tyson's views on the phylogeny of the pygmy and its relationship to humans, apes, and monkeys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregor Horst</span>

Gregor Horst Latinized as Gregorius Horstius was a German physician, anatomist and professor of medicine at the University of Giessen. He promoted a shift from regurgitation of old medical ideas and was called Practicus prudens and "the Aesculapius of the Germans". He tried to establish a rational approach to medicine and his motto ratione et experientia was included in his portraits.

References

  1. Neurotree profile Friedrich Tiedemann
  2. 1 2 3 Chisholm 1911.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN   0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
  5. Tiedemann, Friedrich (1836). "On the Brain of the Negro, compared with that of the european and the orang-outang" (PDF). Phil. Trans. 126: 497. Bibcode:1836RSPT..126..497T.. Tiedemann was heavily criticized in medical journals at the time, including by Andrew Comb, Remarks on the Fallacy of Professor Tiedemann, Eclectic Journal of Medicine (1838).
  6. Mitchell, P.W. (2018). "The fault in his seeds: Lost notes to the case of bias in Samuel George Morton's cranial race science." Public Library of Science Biology 16 (10): e2007008.
  7. Mitchell, P.W. and Michael, J.S. (2019). "Bias, Brains, and Skulls Tracing the Legacy of Scientific Racism in the Nineteenth-Century Works of Samuel George Morton and Friedrich Tiedemann" In Jackson, Christina, and Thomas, Jamie (eds.). Embodied Difference: Divergent Bodies in Public Discourse. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littefield. p. 77-98. ISBN   978-1-4985-6386-4. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
  8. "Friedrich Tiedemann (1781–1861)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  9. "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter F" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  10. Ruse, Michael; Travis, Joseph. (2009). Evolution: The First Four Billion Years. Belknap Press. p. 442. ISBN   978-0674062214
  11. Richards, Robert J. (2008). The Tragic Sense of Life: Ernst Haeckel and the Struggle over Evolutionary Thought. University of Chicago Press. p. 466. ISBN   978-0226712161
  12. Gadow, H. (1913). "Darwinism 100 Years Ago". Nature. 92 (2298): 320. Bibcode:1913Natur..92..320G. doi: 10.1038/092320a0 . S2CID   3988649.
  13. Proctor, R.N. Tobacco and the global lung cancer epidemic. Nature. October 2001, 1(1):82–86.
  14. Tiedemann, Friedrich (1854). Geschichte des Tabaks und anderer ähnlicher Genussmittel [A History of Tobacco and Similar Recreational Substances] (in German). Brönner. pp. 363–371.
  15. Proctor, Robert (1999). The Nazi War on Cancer. Princeton University Press. p. 180. ISBN   978-0-691-00196-8.
  16. Koenig, Robert. (2009). The Fourth Horseman: The Tragedy of Anton Dilger and the Birth of Biological Terrorism. Tantor Media. p. 21. ISBN   978-1400153503
  17. Tiedemann, Heinrich. (1876). Mensch und Affe: eine Vorlesung welche am 3. Februar 1876 in der Halle der Teutschen Gesellschaft zu Philadelphia gehalten wurde. German Society of Philadelphia.
  18. Pena, Sergio (2007). "Um anti-racista à frente de seu tempo". Ciencia Hoje. Instituto Ciencia Hoje. Retrieved 2 January 2025. Um anti-racista à frente de seu tempo

Attribution: