Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz

Heinrich Wilhelm Gottfried von Waldeyer-Hartz (6 October 1836 – 23 January 1921) was a German anatomist, known for summarizing the neuron theory He is also remembered by anatomical structures of the human body which were named after him: Waldeyer's tonsillar ring (the lymphoid tissue ring of the naso- and oropharynx) and Waldeyer's glands (of the eyelids).

Contribution to neuron theory

Waldeyer's name is associated in neuroscience with the "neuron theory", and for coining the term "neuron" to describe the basic structural unit of the nervous system. Waldeyer synthesized the discoveries by neuroanatomists

Cytology and embryology

Waldeyer also studied the basophilic stained filaments which had been found to be the main constituents of chromatin, the material inside the cell nucleus, by his colleague of Kiel, Walther Flemming (1843–1905). Although its significance for genetics and for cell biology was still to be discovered, these filaments were known to be involved in the phenomenon of cell division discovered by Flemming, named mitosis, as well as in meiosis. He coined in 1888 the term "chromosome" to describe them.