1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910453947503321

Autore

Finkelstein Gabriel Ward

Titolo

Emil du Bois-Reymond : neuroscience, self, and society in nineteenth-century Germany / / Gabriel Finkelstein

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge, Massachusetts : , : MIT Press, , [2013]

©2013

ISBN

0-262-31484-3

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (381 p.)

Collana

Transformations : studies in the history of science and technology

Disciplina

612.8092

B

Soggetti

Neurosciences - Philosophy - History - 19th century

Physiologists - Germany

Physiology, Experimental - History - 19th century

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Introduction; I Beginnings; 1 Childhood; 2 Youth; 3 Apprenticeship; II Experiments; 4 Science; 5 Revolution; 6 Paris; III Life; 7 Love; 8 Marriage and Career; 9 Public and Private; IV Fame; 10 Politics and History; 11 Goethe and Darwin; 12 Limits; Notes; Index

Sommario/riassunto

A biography of an important but largely forgotten nineteenth-century scientist whose work helped lay the foundation of modern neuroscience.Emil du Bois-Reymond is the most important forgotten intellectual of the nineteenth century. In his own time (1818-1896) du Bois-Reymond grew famous in his native Germany and beyond for his groundbreaking research in neuroscience and his provocative addresses on politics and culture. This biography by Gabriel Finkelstein draws on personal papers, published writings, and contemporary responses to tell the story of a major scientific figure. Du Bois-Reymond's discovery of the electrical transmission of nerve signals, his innovations in laboratory instrumentation, and his reductionist methodology all helped lay the foundations of modern neuroscience.In addition to describing the pioneering experiments that earned du Bois-



Reymond a seat in the Prussian Academy of Sciences and a professorship at the University of Berlin, Finkelstein recounts du Bois-Reymond's family origins, private life, public service, and lasting influence. Du Bois-Reymond's public lectures made him a celebrity. In talks that touched on science, philosophy, history, and literature, he introduced Darwin to German students (triggering two days of debate in the Prussian parliament); asked, on the eve of the Franco-Prussian War, whether France had forfeited its right to exist; and proclaimed the mystery of consciousness, heralding the age of doubt. The first modern biography of du Bois-Reymond in any language, this book recovers an important chapter in the history of science, the history of ideas, and the history of Germany.