Roberto Wernicke

Roberto Enrique Martín Wernicke (May 23, 1852 – October 22, 1922) was an Argentine physician, embryologist, bacteriologist, educator and researcher.[1] After training at the University of Jena in Germany, he returned to Buenos Aires, where he taught and practiced medicine for many years.

Roberto Enrique Martín Wernicke
Born(1852-05-23)May 23, 1852
Buenos Aires, Argentina
DiedOctober 22, 1922(1922-10-22) (aged 70)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
NationalityArgentina
Alma materUniversity of Jena, Germany
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Buenos Aires, Hospital de Clínicas "José de San Martín"
Doctoral advisorWilliam Thierry Preyer

Wernicke introduced microscopy to Argentinian medicine, and founded the study of parasitology, microbiology, and general pathology in Argentina. He served as President of the Argentine Medical Association from 1894 to 1897, and was president of the Second Latin American Scientific Congress, in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1901. A Festschrift was published in his honor in 1909.

Early life

Roberto Enrique Martin Wernicke's parents were Robert Heinrich (Roberto Enrique) Wernicke[1] (May 29, 1826, Kelbra - January 24, 1881, Buenos Aires) and Ida Augusta Beltz (or Baltz) von Hagen. Both were from Germany. They married around 1851. Wernicke had several siblings and half-siblings, among them the painter Julia Wernicke (1860-1932).[2]

Wernicke's childhood was spent in Baradero about 160 km northwest of the city of Buenos Aires, where his father settled for health reasons and ran a school. Wernicke completed his secondary studies in Buenos Aires.[1]

University of Jena

In 1872, Roberto Wernicke moved to Germany where he entered the University of Jena, working with William Thierry Preyer. Wernicke graduated in 1876 after publishing a thesis on experimental studies of the physiology of the embryonic heart.[3] Wernicke was one of the first to study the embryonic development of chicken hearts, using sand and water baths to maintain a constant temperature for the developing eggs.[4] A translation of the work was published in the Anales de la Sociedad Científica Argentina (Annals of the Argentine Scientific Society).[5]

Career in Buenos Aires

In 1878, Roberto Wernicke returned to Buenos Aires. In 1884, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine, after presenting a thesis sponsored by José Teodoro Baca, on the topic "Una primera lección de examen clínico" ("A first lesson in clinical study"). Soon after, he became Assistant Professor of the Chair of General Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires.[6][7]

Roberto Wernicke taught in room IX of the Hospital de Clínicas. His younger brother Otto Wernicke also became a doctor at the Hospital.[8] Roberto Wernicke was known for arriving early and being a demanding instructor.[9]

In 1884, Wernicke established a Laboratory for Contagious Diseases in Animals.[10] Between 1884 and 1887, Wernicke carried out early experiments in photomicrography.[11]

In 1886, the National Department of Hygiene sent him to Rosario to assess the situation created by the presence of cholera in the area. After some difficulties, he was able to impose sanitary criteria and set up a lazaretto outside the city for those who had contracted the disease.[12]

In 1888, Wernicke founded the Laboratorio de la Sociedad Rural Argentina (Laboratory of the Argentine Rural Society) with the support of La Rural's president, Estanislao Zeballos.[13] In his laboratory, a group of young medical students, veterinarians and biologists, began to study the new specialty of bacteriology. Wernicke introduced microscopy to Argentinian medicine, along with the study of parasitology, microbiology, and general pathology.[14] He followed closely the work of European scientists such as Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch.[15]

He was the first Argentine physician to see the microbes under the lens of the microscope and was the first to declare war against those deadly and invisible enemies of man.[15]

In 1889, Wernicke called attention to the dangers of hydatid cysts, a zoonotic disorder caused by Echinococcus granulosus. The parasite can be found in sheep organs, which if eaten by dogs can travel in their faeces to infect humans. Wernicke, who had studied hydatidosis in domestic animals for some years, noted a sharp increase in human cases due to both increased human immigration and the importation of Lincoln sheep which were herded with dogs. Wernicke wrote to the Minister of the Province of Buenos Aires, Manuel Bernardo Gonnet. This led to a project to establish rural and industrial safety codes in 1891, and the passage of National Law 3959 establishing guidelines for the inspection of businesses such as slaughterhouses, meat-packing plants to prevent disease and contamination of food.[13]

In 1890, Wernicke was promoted to Professor of General Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine, holding that position until October 1907.[15] His students included Guillermo Seeber, who described the parasite Rhinosporidium seeberi,[16][17] and Alejandro Posadas, who with Wernicke first described the fungal disease Coccidioidomycosis.[18][10][19][20][21][22][17][23]

Wernicke was a founding member[24] and served two terms as President of the Asociación Médica Argentina (Argentine Medical Association) from 1894-1895 and from 1896-1897.[25] He was vice-president of the First Latin American Scientific Congress[15] held in Buenos Aires on April 11, 1898, where he led the medical sciences section.[26] At the Second Latin American Scientific Congress, held in Montevideo from March 20 to 31, 1901, he served as president of the board as well as being president of the coordinating committee in Argentina and the official delegate of the Argentine government. He also presented a paper on amyloid degeneration.[27][28][29]

In 1907, Wernicke formally retired from the University, stepping down from the Chair of General Pathology, and the positions of Academician and Counselor of the School of Medicine. In a ceremony on October 30, 1907,[15] the Board of Directors granted him the title of "Honorary Professor", in recognition of "his services to the city, the nation and the profession".[30] His students and colleagues published a Libro d'e Oro (Golden Book)[13]:135 as a festschrift in his honor.[31]

Wernicke continued to see patients in his private practice.[15] He served as president of the Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires from 1912-1913.[32]

Roberto Wernicke died in Buenos Aires on October 14, 1922.[14][1]

References
  1. "Dr. Roberto Wernicke". Asociación Médica Argentina. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  2. Wernicke, Edmundo (1943). Una Evocación del Pasado. Buenos Aires.
  3. Wernicke, Robert (1876). Zur Physiologie des embryonalen Herzens: Experimentelle Untersuchungen. Jena: Verlag von Hermann Dufft. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  4. Cohn, A. E. (31 August 1925). "Physiological Ontogeny: A. Chicken Embryos. V. On the Rate of the Heart Beat During the Development of Chicken Embryos" (PDF). Journal of Experimental Medicine. 42 (3): 291–297. doi:10.1084/jem.42.3.291. PMC 2131007. PMID 19869052. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  5. Wernicke, Roberto (1876). "El corazon embrional". Anales de la Sociedad Científica Argentina. II: 269–276. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  6. Navarro Viola, Alberto; Navarro Viola, Enrique (1886). Anuario bibliográfico de la República Arjentina. Argentina: M. Biedma. p. 212. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. "Wernicke, Roberto". Bibliotecha Centrale. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  8. Buzzi, Alfredo (2010). Historia del Antiguo Hospital de Clínicas a través de sus cátedras (1881-1971). Médicas del Sur.
  9. Buzzi, Alfredo (2010). "Reminiscencias del internado en el pabellón de practicantes y de la sala IV del Hospital Nacional de Clínicas (1954-1955)". Revista de la Asociación Médica Argentina. 123 (1): 33–40. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  10. Schwarz, Jan; Baum, Gerald L. (March 1965). "Pioneers in the discovery of deep fungus diseases". Mycopathologia et Mycologia Applicata. 25 (1–2): 73–81. doi:10.1007/BF02049613. PMID 14331328. S2CID 35468730.
  11. Hannavy, John (December 16, 2013). Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography. New York: Routledge. p. 72. ISBN 9781135873271. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  12. Pascual, Cecilia M. (April 2017). "La epidemia de cólera como condensador de sentidos: culturas urbanas, narraciones clínicas y políticas higiénicas en Rosario, Argentina, 1886-1887". História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos. 24 (2): 295–311. doi:10.1590/s0104-59702017000200002. PMID 28658420.
  13. Garzón Maceda, Félix (1923). "La parasitologia humana en la República Argentina (antecedentes bibliograficos)". Revista de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (1). Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  14. "Death of Professor Wernicke". Journal of the American Medical Association. 79 (24): 2019. 1922. doi:10.1001/jama.1922.02640240053028. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  15. Parker, William Belmont (1920). Argentines of today. 2. Buenos Aires, New York: The Hispanic Society of America. pp. 875–877. ISBN 9780722295779. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  16. Fredricks, David (June 2000). "Rhinosporidium seeberi: A Human Pathogen from a Novel Group of Aquatic Protistan Parasites". Emerging Infectious Diseases. 6 (3): 273–282. doi:10.3201/eid0603.000307. PMC 2640875. PMID 10827117.
  17. Arora, D.K.; Ajello, L.; Mukerji, K.G. (July 25, 1991). Handbook of Applied Mycology. 2: Humans, Animals and Insects. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. p. 22. ISBN 9780824784355. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  18. BENCHIMOL, J.L.; SÁ, M.R. (2004). Adolpho Lutz Obra Completa (PDF). Rio de Janeiro: SciELO. p. 172. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  19. Esteva, Hugo (August 2004). "Alejandro Posadas, Argentinian pioneer: thoracic surgery in the Western world in his time". The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 78 (2): 741–745. doi:10.1016/j.athoracsur.2003.12.049. PMID 15276570. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  20. Hirschmann, J. V. (1 May 2007). "The Early History of Coccidioidomycosis: 1892-1945". Clinical Infectious Diseases. 44 (9): 1202–1207. doi:10.1086/513202. PMID 17407039.
  21. Deresinski, Stan; Mirels, Laurence F (25 January 2019). "Coccidioidomycosis: What a long strange trip it's been". Medical Mycology. 57 (Supplement_1): S3–S15. doi:10.1093/mmy/myy123. PMC 6347081. PMID 30690606.
  22. Daniel, Thomas M.; Baum, Gerald L. (2002). Drama and discovery : the story of histoplasmosis. Contributions in Medical Studies. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 15. ISBN 9780313321627. PMID 12109497. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  23. Stevens, David A. (1980). Coccidioidomycosis: A Text. U.S.A.: Springer. pp. 2–3. ISBN 9781475717143. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  24. "Deaths in Other Countries". Journal of the American Medical Association. 79 (22): 1858. 1922. doi:10.1001/jama.1922.02640220050018. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  25. "Code d'Ethique pour l'Equipe de le Sante" (PDF). Asociación Médica Argentina. 2001. p. 6. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  26. Shrady, George F. (July 9, 1898). "The Latin American Scientific Congress". Medical Record. 54 (2): 57. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  27. Calvo Isaza, Oscar (2005). "Conocimiento desinteresado y ciencia americana. El Congreso Científico (1898-1916)" (PDF). El Seminario de Historia Intelectual de América Latina (Siglos XIX y XX). Centro de Estudios Históricos. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  28. "La Segundo Reunion del Congreso Científico Latino Americano". Anales de la Sociedad Científica Argentina. Buenos Aires. May: 134–141. 1901. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  29. Wernicke, Roberto (1901). "Sobre degeneración amiloidea". In Congreso Científico Latinoamericano (ed.). Segunda reunión del congreso científico latino americano celebrada en Montevideo del 20 al 31 de marzo de 1901. Montevideo: Al libro ingles. pp. 61–62.
  30. "Medical news". Journal of the American Medical Association. 50 (7): 542. February 15, 1908. doi:10.1001/jama.1908.02530330044013. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  31. Aráoz Alfaro, Gregorio (1909). Sobre el valor semiológico del triángulo paravertebral de Grocco y otros signos correlativos : trabajo publicado en el libro de homenaje al Profesor Roberto Wernicke con motivo de su retiro de la Facultad de Medicina. Buenos Aires: La Ciencia Médica.
  32. "Presidentes de la Academia Nacional de Medicina desde 1822". Academia Nacional de Medicina. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
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