Jan Purkinje
| Jan Evangelista Purkyně | |
|---|---|
Jan Evangelista Purkyne in 1856
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| Born |
17 December 1787 Libochovice, Bohemia, Austrian Monarchy |
| Died | 28 July 1869 (aged 81) Prague, Austria-Hungary |
| Citizenship | Austrian |
| Nationality | Czech |
| Fields | Anatomy, physiology |
| Institutions | University of Breslau |
| Alma mater | University of Prague |
| Known for | Purkinje cells |
Jan Evangelista Purkyně (Czech: [ˈjan ˈɛvaŋɡɛlɪsta ˈpurkɪɲɛ]; also written Johann Evangelist Purkinje) (17 December or 18 December 1787 – 28 July 1869) was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. He was one of the best known scientists of his time. In 1839, he coined the term 'protoplasm' for the fluid substance of a cell. Such was his fame that when people from outside Europe wrote letters to him, all that they needed to put as the address was "Purkyně, Europe". His son was the painter Karel Purkyně.
He is buried in the Czech National Cemetery in Vyšehrad, Prague, modern-day Czech Republic.
Purkyně was born in the Kingdom of Bohemia (then part of the Austrian monarchy, now Czech Republic.) In 1818, he graduated from Charles University in Prague with a degree in medicine, where he was appointed a Professor of Physiology. He discovered the Purkinje effect, the human eye's much reduced sensitivity to dim red light compared to dim blue light. He published two volumes, Observations and Experiments Investigating the Physiology of Senses and New Subjective Reports about Vision, which contributed to the emergence of the science of experimental psychology. He created the world's first Department of Physiology at the University of Breslau in Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland) in 1839 and the world's first official physiology laboratory in 1842. Here he was a founder of the Literary-Slav Society.
He is best known for his 1837 discovery of Purkinje cells, large neurons with many branching dendrites found in the cerebellum. He is also known for his discovery in 1839 of Purkinje fibres, the fibrous tissue that conducts electrical impulses from the atrioventricular node to all parts of the ventricles of the heart. Other discoveries include Purkinje images, reflections of objects from structures of the eye, and the Purkinje shift, the change in the brightness of red and blue colours as light intensity decreases gradually at dusk. Purkyně also introduced the scientific terms plasma (for the component of blood left when the suspended cells have been removed) and protoplasm (the substance found inside cells.)
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