- Email: [email protected]
Editorial - A contribution to the fox Ulrich Welsch on the occasion of his 60th birthday
acta histochem. 103, 5±8 (2001) Ó Urban & Fischer Verlag
Editorial A contribution to the fox Ulrich Welsch on the occasion of his 60th birthday The fox Professor Dr. Dr. Ulrich Welsch celebrated his 60th birthday on September 24th, 2000. When he was asked about his opinion on celebrating this event with a symposium in his honour, he clearly stated that he did not wish such an event to happen, an attitude that is very characteristic for his personality. Therefore, it was decided to publish papers from his friends and collaborators in this issue of acta histochemica, which is dedicated to him. His attitude of modesty is in tradition with that of other famous anatomists. It was one of the founders of German comparative anatomy, Johannes MuÈller, who said that nothing more than the date of birth and the date of death should be recorded from a scholar. The attitude was preserved via Ulrich Welsch's PhD supervisor, Professor Adolf Remane, who said that his birthday is a working day as any other day of his life. Ulrich Welsch graduated at the Johann Heinrich Voss school in Eutin, Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany, and his great love for literature made him first enrol for a degree in German and English at the University of Munich. However, he also had a great love for the diversity of all living things and that made him change to the subject of biology, first in Munich and later in Kiel, where he graduated. He immediately selected Professor Adolf Remane as his PhD supervisor. In his PhD thesis on the grinding pattern of hominid teeth, he laid the cornerstone for his future scientific career by incorporating his structural observations in the unifying intellectual framework of Darwin's theory of evolution. His first postdoctoral position was with Professor Caesar in the Department of Pathology at the University of Kiel, where he extended at the electron microscopical level the famous experiments of Cohnheim, in which inflammation of the frog's tongue was induced by applying croton oil. He demonstrated that http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/actahist
0065±1281/01/103/1±005 $ 15.00/0
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Editorial
leukocytes migrate through endothelia by pushing aside their cytoplasm and not by opening the intercellular junctions; an important observation that is neglected in many pathology textbooks, where diapedesis of leukocytes is illustrated to occur via opened tight junctions. His next position was in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Kiel, which was headed by Professor Wolfgang Bargmann, then an eminent figure in German anatomy. Ulrich Welsch took every opportunity to make the best out of this stimulating environment. In this period, he published approximately 40 papers on comparative animal cytology and histology, many in collaboration with his friend Professor Volker Storch, who lectured in the Department of Zoology, University of Kiel. His favourites were our distant ancestors, namely lower chordates, echinodermata and hemichordata. Together with Bargmann and Professor Knoop from the Federal Institute for Milk Research, he made seminal contributions to our understanding of the secretion of milk at the electron microscopic level. His happy years in Kiel were interposed by a spell in Professor Anthony Pearse's thriving group at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, UK. Here he mastered many techniques of the newly established discipline enzyme histochemistry and was engulfed studying APUD cells. He transferred his newly acquired expertise to Kiel and applied it to his ªHabilitationº on Ccells in the thyroid gland. He learned to know many international friends during this period. Soon after his habilitation in Kiel he started to study medicine as well besides his duties as a lecturer, because he realised that clinical application of anatomy can only be taught after completion of a medical degree, which he obtained at the end of the seventies. His persevereness in pursuing this task was highlighted by completion of a MD thesis, that was formally presented to the faculty by Professor Leonhardt, who had succeeded Bargmann as head of department. Despite his workload as a medical student he continued his research and his teaching duties in anatomy vigorously and soon he was awarded an associate professorship at the University of Kiel. He resigned from this position in 1983 when he was offered the established Chair of Histology and Experimental Biology at the University of Munich, a position once occupied by the famous histologist Professor Benno Romeis. Before accepting the chair in Munich, he was offered a chair in Essen and afterwards one in Cologne, both of which he declined. With keen interest he enlarged and extended the electron microscopic facilities in Munich and continued his work on the milk fat globule membrane with freeze fracture and freeze etching techniques. His interests extended beyond the mammary gland to other glandular tissues as well. In addition, he adviced and enriched the scientific pursuits of many junior clinical colleagues with expert electron microscopical findings. Later on, he expanded the facilities of his own department by adding new cell and molecular biological facilities. In his Munich years, he travelled frequently to collaborate with colleagues in various countries. He spent a sabbatical with Professor P. N. Dilly at
Editorial
7
St Georges' Medical School in London, UK, where he studied the structure of the hemichordate Cephalodiscus gracilis at the electron microscopical level. In return, he hosted many foreign visitors. He particularly enjoyed the visits and friendship of Professor Stuart Patton from the University of California, San Diego, USA, who he knew already in Kiel and who visited Munich as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow. The fox and scientist Ulrich Welsch is inadequately characterised by his research alone. Although he would deny it in his usual modesty, he is an outstanding teacher as well. When he lectures, the large lecture theatre in the Anatomische Anstalt in Munich is usually completely full and his lectures are recorded and shown on monitors in an adjacent lecture theatre, which is also filled up, which has never happened before. During his lectures, it is apparent that he masters his subject area, and besides this, his lectures are full of wit and ironic comments on the flavours of the months and the political correctnesses of the day. Professor Welsch is not only a master of the spoken word in the lecture theatre but also a master of the pen. Together with his friend Professor Volker Storch and his PhD supervisior Professor Adolf Remane, he started a series of highly successful textbooks on general zoology, systematical zoology and evolution, all of which saw many editions. These books are standard textbooks at German universities. Together with Storch he also wrote the textbook ºComparative animal cytology and histologyº, which has been translated in five languages and saw several editions. Furthermore, he has continued with Storch the famous KuÈkenthal Zoologisches Praktikum (in print for over 100 years!). These books have been translated in seven languages. In addition, he continues to publish the Sobotta Atlas of histology and microscopical anatomy as sole author. All these books are a never ending workload to Professor Welsch, which he enjoys most of the time. When an edition of one of his many books is completed, a new edition of another of his books looms around the corner! Finally, why is he a fox? In his masterpiece on Tolstoy ªThe hedgehog and the foxº, Isaiah Berlin quotes the verses of the Greek poet Archilochus ªThe fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thingº. Berlin elaborates on this particular division of the world and shows that it can be extended to all forms and aspects of human activity. It is only the nature of a fox that allows Ulrich Welsch to pursue all his activities at a high standard. He is one of the few who oversees the area of comparative morphology which enables him and his friend Volker Storch to write a textbook on the entire field of zoology as a two-person enterprise. This is a unique enterprise. His enormous overview and his deep insight into the nature of biological phenomena have made him an advisor in many German institutions (Institut fuÈr Zoound Wildtierforschung, Berlin; Deutsches Primatenzentrum, GoÈttingen), where he serves in a wide variety of committees. These comments on the scientist and intellectual Ulrich Welsch would be incomplete without a few remarks on his hobbies and his personality. While
8
Editorial
writing and e-mailing, he loves to listen to classical music, particularly to composers of the 18th and 19th century. Another of his favourite pastimes is birdwatching, which he started during his boyhood in Neustadt, a harbour town at the Baltic Sea. While walking with him through the fields, he identifies the birds around by their songs. As Neustadt suggests, he is from a naval background, his father being a naval engineer who was lost during service on a submarine in world war II. Naturally one would say that he has a great knowledge of naval matters and in particular of the Imperial German Navy. Ulrich Welsch is also a man of literature and philosophy. Musil and Jaspers are some of his favourites. In particular, Karl Jaspers' ªDie Idee der UniversitaÈtº forms the intellectual framework for his understanding of life as university teacher. Let us hope together with his wife Dr. Loan Welsch to have this fox around for a long time! Udo Schumacher, Hamburg
Prof. Dr. Udo Schumacher FRCPath, FIBiol, DSc, Institute for Anatomy, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany; phone: *49 4 04 28 03-35 86; fax: *49 4 04 28 03-54 27; e-mail: [email protected]
Editorial A contribution to the fox Ulrich Welsch on the occasion of his 60th birthday The fox Professor Dr. Dr. Ulrich Welsch celebrated his 60th birthday on September 24th, 2000. When he was asked about his opinion on celebrating this event with a symposium in his honour, he clearly stated that he did not wish such an event to happen, an attitude that is very characteristic for his personality. Therefore, it was decided to publish papers from his friends and collaborators in this issue of acta histochemica, which is dedicated to him. His attitude of modesty is in tradition with that of other famous anatomists. It was one of the founders of German comparative anatomy, Johannes MuÈller, who said that nothing more than the date of birth and the date of death should be recorded from a scholar. The attitude was preserved via Ulrich Welsch's PhD supervisor, Professor Adolf Remane, who said that his birthday is a working day as any other day of his life. Ulrich Welsch graduated at the Johann Heinrich Voss school in Eutin, Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany, and his great love for literature made him first enrol for a degree in German and English at the University of Munich. However, he also had a great love for the diversity of all living things and that made him change to the subject of biology, first in Munich and later in Kiel, where he graduated. He immediately selected Professor Adolf Remane as his PhD supervisor. In his PhD thesis on the grinding pattern of hominid teeth, he laid the cornerstone for his future scientific career by incorporating his structural observations in the unifying intellectual framework of Darwin's theory of evolution. His first postdoctoral position was with Professor Caesar in the Department of Pathology at the University of Kiel, where he extended at the electron microscopical level the famous experiments of Cohnheim, in which inflammation of the frog's tongue was induced by applying croton oil. He demonstrated that http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/actahist
0065±1281/01/103/1±005 $ 15.00/0
6
Editorial
leukocytes migrate through endothelia by pushing aside their cytoplasm and not by opening the intercellular junctions; an important observation that is neglected in many pathology textbooks, where diapedesis of leukocytes is illustrated to occur via opened tight junctions. His next position was in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Kiel, which was headed by Professor Wolfgang Bargmann, then an eminent figure in German anatomy. Ulrich Welsch took every opportunity to make the best out of this stimulating environment. In this period, he published approximately 40 papers on comparative animal cytology and histology, many in collaboration with his friend Professor Volker Storch, who lectured in the Department of Zoology, University of Kiel. His favourites were our distant ancestors, namely lower chordates, echinodermata and hemichordata. Together with Bargmann and Professor Knoop from the Federal Institute for Milk Research, he made seminal contributions to our understanding of the secretion of milk at the electron microscopic level. His happy years in Kiel were interposed by a spell in Professor Anthony Pearse's thriving group at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at the Hammersmith Hospital in London, UK. Here he mastered many techniques of the newly established discipline enzyme histochemistry and was engulfed studying APUD cells. He transferred his newly acquired expertise to Kiel and applied it to his ªHabilitationº on Ccells in the thyroid gland. He learned to know many international friends during this period. Soon after his habilitation in Kiel he started to study medicine as well besides his duties as a lecturer, because he realised that clinical application of anatomy can only be taught after completion of a medical degree, which he obtained at the end of the seventies. His persevereness in pursuing this task was highlighted by completion of a MD thesis, that was formally presented to the faculty by Professor Leonhardt, who had succeeded Bargmann as head of department. Despite his workload as a medical student he continued his research and his teaching duties in anatomy vigorously and soon he was awarded an associate professorship at the University of Kiel. He resigned from this position in 1983 when he was offered the established Chair of Histology and Experimental Biology at the University of Munich, a position once occupied by the famous histologist Professor Benno Romeis. Before accepting the chair in Munich, he was offered a chair in Essen and afterwards one in Cologne, both of which he declined. With keen interest he enlarged and extended the electron microscopic facilities in Munich and continued his work on the milk fat globule membrane with freeze fracture and freeze etching techniques. His interests extended beyond the mammary gland to other glandular tissues as well. In addition, he adviced and enriched the scientific pursuits of many junior clinical colleagues with expert electron microscopical findings. Later on, he expanded the facilities of his own department by adding new cell and molecular biological facilities. In his Munich years, he travelled frequently to collaborate with colleagues in various countries. He spent a sabbatical with Professor P. N. Dilly at
Editorial
7
St Georges' Medical School in London, UK, where he studied the structure of the hemichordate Cephalodiscus gracilis at the electron microscopical level. In return, he hosted many foreign visitors. He particularly enjoyed the visits and friendship of Professor Stuart Patton from the University of California, San Diego, USA, who he knew already in Kiel and who visited Munich as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow. The fox and scientist Ulrich Welsch is inadequately characterised by his research alone. Although he would deny it in his usual modesty, he is an outstanding teacher as well. When he lectures, the large lecture theatre in the Anatomische Anstalt in Munich is usually completely full and his lectures are recorded and shown on monitors in an adjacent lecture theatre, which is also filled up, which has never happened before. During his lectures, it is apparent that he masters his subject area, and besides this, his lectures are full of wit and ironic comments on the flavours of the months and the political correctnesses of the day. Professor Welsch is not only a master of the spoken word in the lecture theatre but also a master of the pen. Together with his friend Professor Volker Storch and his PhD supervisior Professor Adolf Remane, he started a series of highly successful textbooks on general zoology, systematical zoology and evolution, all of which saw many editions. These books are standard textbooks at German universities. Together with Storch he also wrote the textbook ºComparative animal cytology and histologyº, which has been translated in five languages and saw several editions. Furthermore, he has continued with Storch the famous KuÈkenthal Zoologisches Praktikum (in print for over 100 years!). These books have been translated in seven languages. In addition, he continues to publish the Sobotta Atlas of histology and microscopical anatomy as sole author. All these books are a never ending workload to Professor Welsch, which he enjoys most of the time. When an edition of one of his many books is completed, a new edition of another of his books looms around the corner! Finally, why is he a fox? In his masterpiece on Tolstoy ªThe hedgehog and the foxº, Isaiah Berlin quotes the verses of the Greek poet Archilochus ªThe fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thingº. Berlin elaborates on this particular division of the world and shows that it can be extended to all forms and aspects of human activity. It is only the nature of a fox that allows Ulrich Welsch to pursue all his activities at a high standard. He is one of the few who oversees the area of comparative morphology which enables him and his friend Volker Storch to write a textbook on the entire field of zoology as a two-person enterprise. This is a unique enterprise. His enormous overview and his deep insight into the nature of biological phenomena have made him an advisor in many German institutions (Institut fuÈr Zoound Wildtierforschung, Berlin; Deutsches Primatenzentrum, GoÈttingen), where he serves in a wide variety of committees. These comments on the scientist and intellectual Ulrich Welsch would be incomplete without a few remarks on his hobbies and his personality. While
8
Editorial
writing and e-mailing, he loves to listen to classical music, particularly to composers of the 18th and 19th century. Another of his favourite pastimes is birdwatching, which he started during his boyhood in Neustadt, a harbour town at the Baltic Sea. While walking with him through the fields, he identifies the birds around by their songs. As Neustadt suggests, he is from a naval background, his father being a naval engineer who was lost during service on a submarine in world war II. Naturally one would say that he has a great knowledge of naval matters and in particular of the Imperial German Navy. Ulrich Welsch is also a man of literature and philosophy. Musil and Jaspers are some of his favourites. In particular, Karl Jaspers' ªDie Idee der UniversitaÈtº forms the intellectual framework for his understanding of life as university teacher. Let us hope together with his wife Dr. Loan Welsch to have this fox around for a long time! Udo Schumacher, Hamburg
Prof. Dr. Udo Schumacher FRCPath, FIBiol, DSc, Institute for Anatomy, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, D-20246 Hamburg, Germany; phone: *49 4 04 28 03-35 86; fax: *49 4 04 28 03-54 27; e-mail: [email protected]