Paris or Berlin? Claude Bernard's rivalry with Emil du Bois-Reymond.

Claude Bernard (1813-1878) and Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896) rank as two of the most influential scientists of the nineteenth century. Renowned for their experiments, lectures, and writing, Bernard and du Bois-Reymond earned great prestige as professors of physiology in a time when Paris and Berlin reigned as capitals of science. Yet even though they were equals in every way, du Bois-Reymond's reputation has fallen far more than Bernard's.

Haeckel and du Bois-Reymond: rival German Darwinists.

Ernst Haeckel and Emil du Bois-Reymond were the most prominent champions of Darwin in Germany. This essay compares their contributions to popularizing the theory of evolution, drawing special attention to the neglected figure of du Bois-Reymond as a spokesman for a world devoid of natural purpose. It suggests that the historiography of the German reception of Darwin's theory needs to be reassessed in the light of du Bois-Reymond's Lucretian outlook.

Emil du Bois-Reymond on "The Seat of the Soul".

The German pioneer of electrophysiology, Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896), is generally assumed to have remained silent on the subject of the brain. However, the archive of his papers in Berlin contains manuscript notes to a lecture on "The Seat of the Soul" that he delivered to popular audiences in 1884 and 1885. These notes demonstrate that cerebral localization and brain function in general had been concerns of his for quite some time, and that he did not shy away from these subjects.

Emil du Bois-Reymond vs Ludimar Hermann.

This essay recounts a controversy between a pioneer electrophysiologist, Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896), and his student, Ludimar Hermann (1838-1914). Du Bois-Reymond proposed a molecular explanation for the slight electrical currents that he detected in frog muscles and nerves. Hermann argued that du Bois-Reymond's 'resting currents' were an artifact of injury to living tissue.

M. du Bois-Reymond goes to Paris.

This article examines the science of electrophysiology developed by Emil du Bois-Reymond in Berlin in the 1840s. In it I recount his major findings, the most significant being his proof of the electrical nature of nerve signals. Du Bois-Reymond also went on to detect this same 'negative variation', or action current, in live human subjects.