Schwann, Theodore

Schwann, Theodor. Vorlauhge Mitteilung, Betreffend Versuche iiber die Weingahrung und Faulnis. Ann. Phys. 41, 184-193 (1837). 

Schwann, Theodor (1810-82) German physiologist, who trained in medicine. After working in Berlin, he moved to Belgium. In 1838 the German botanist Matthias Schlei-den (1804-81) had stated that plant tissues were composed of cells. Schwann demonstrated the same fact for animal tissues, and in 1839 concluded that all tissues are made up of cells this laid the foundations for the cell theory. Schwann also worked on fermentation and discovered the enzyme pepsin. Schwann cells are named after him. 

Saussure, Nicholas Theodore de, 1 Scheele, Carl Wilhelm, 2-3 Scheuch, Heinrich, 228 Schilbach (Bosch), Else, 86 Schiller, Georg, 113 Schloesing, Theophile, 16 Schmitz, Hermann, 104 Schonherr, Otto, 75-76 Schwann, Theodor, 2 Stern, Georg, 94-95 Strassman, Fritz, 231 Stresemann, Gustav, 224 Suess, Hans, 178... 

Theodore Schwann, German physiologist, published a paper. 

The cell theory of life was finally put forward in the early nineteenth century by Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann. Schleiden worked primarily with plant tissue he argued for the central importance of a dark spot—the nucleus—within all cells. Schwann concentrated on animal tissue, in which it was harder to see cells. Nonetheless he discerned that animals were similar to plants in their cellular structure. Schwann concluded that cells or the secretions of cells compose the entire bodies of animals and plants, and that in some way the cells are individual units with a life of their own. He wrote that the question as to the fundamental power of organized bodies resolves itself into that of individual cells. As Schleiden added, Thus the primary question is, what is the origin of this peculiar little organism, the cell ... 

In 1837, the chemical explanation of fermentation was dealt a shattering blow by Charles Cagniard-Latour (1777-1859), Theodor Schwann (1810-1882) and Friedrich Kutzing (1807-1893) who had independent of each other rediscovered Leeuwenhoek s old observation of the yeast cell. This remarkable coincidence was due to improvements in microscope construction represented by the achromatic compound microscope, which had recently become available and gave much better... 

Theodor Schwann discovers the digestive enzyme pepsin. 

Theodor Schwann states that animals are composed of cells and concludes that all living things are made up of cells. 

Schwann cell A cell that forms the myelin sheath of nerve fibres (axons). Each cell is responsible for a given length of a particular axon (called an Internode) adjacent internodes are separated by small gaps (nodes of Ranvler) where the axon is bare. During its development the cell wraps itself around the fibre, so the sheath consists of concentric layers of Schwann cell membrane. These cells are named after Theodor Schwann. 

Theodor Schwann found that air ceases to bring about fermentation and putrefaction when it is passed through a tube heated to 360°, and said ... 

The story of this poorly understood enzyme began in the Berlin laboratory of J. Muller, where, in 1836, Theodor Schwann described a water-soluble factor in gastric juice that digested egg white. He called it pepsin, after the Greek word for digestion. 

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