Hans Paul Bernhard Gierke
Hans Paul Bernhard Gierke (19 August 1847 – 8 May 1886) was a German anatomist who was a native of Stettin. Biography Gierke studied medicine in Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig, Würzburg, Breslau and Munich, graduating in Würzburg, where he obtained his doctorate in 1872. In 1874 he became prosector at Würzburg, where his teacher was Albert von Kölliker. In 1876 he was appointed professor of anatomy at the Imperial University of Tokyo. For health reasons he had to give up his academic career and return to Germany. In 1881 he became an assistant in the Physiological Institute in Breslau and in 1882 attained the title of professor extraordinarius. In 1883 he visited the Zoological Station in Naples. His health deteriorated rapidly. Soon, he died in the psychiatric hospital in Schöneberg near Berlin, at the age of 39. Legacy He is best remembered for his research on staining methods in neurohistology and the localization of the respiratory center. The solitary tract in the brain stem is sometimes called the "Gierke respiratory bundle". Works Die Theile der Medulla oblongata, deren Verletzung die Athembewegungen hemmt, und das Athemcentrum. Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie des Menschen und der Thiere 7, pp. 583–600, 1873 Beiträge zur