Remak, Robert (1815-1865)

Polish physician and neuroanatomist who pioneered the use of electrotherapy for nervous disorders. He discovered that axons of nerves were continuous with nerve cell bodies in the spinal cord. In 1838, he was the first to describe the presence of the myelin sheath, the insulating layer surrounding nerve fibres, that acts to speed up the passage of nerve impulses. He also microscopically explored the six cortical cell layers of the cerebrum and was a pioneer of the embryology of the nervous system.

Remak was born in Poznan but lived and worked in Germany and studied at Berlin University. Although he was not allowed to hold a senior teaching position in a German university or medical school because he was Jewish, he became a respected neuroanatomist.