Paul Ernst

Paul Ernst (1859–1937) was a Swiss pathologist who studied in Zurich, Berlin and Heidelberg under Edwin Klebs, Robert Koch and Julius Arnold.

Early life and education He was born on April 26, 1859, in Zurich In the family house "Zum Garten" of the von Muralt family as the eldest son of Dr Friedrich Ernst and Anna Elisabeth von Muralt and died in 1937. His mother's lineage produced many famous physicians, such as Johannes von Muralt (1645–1733) and Ludwig von Muralt (1869–1917). Paul was conferred Doctor of Medicine in 1884 with his thesis entitled: "Zur Aetiologie der Nephritis", in which he focussed on the bacterial origin of glomerulonephritis.

Career His thesis shifted his interest towards infectious diseases, and he subsequently worked from 1885 to 1886 under the supervision of Robert Koch in Berlin. Here, he also attended demonstrations and lectures of Rudolf Virchow. Here, he was selected because of his knowledge of bacteriology. He was appointed as an extraordinary professor of pathology at the Ruperto Carola Universitat in Heidelberg in 1893, followed by an appointment as full professor and director of the Institute for Pathology at the University of Zurich from 1900 to 1907. He worked on the structure of myelin sheaths of peripheral nerves and so-called spherical crystals in cancer cells.

He wrote a thoughtful contemporary reflection on the importance of Virchow's work on cellular pathology. Sixty-two students wrote dissertations under his supervision, originating from Switzerland, Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, Romania and even New Zealand. Six of them eventually became professors: Heinrich Zangger (1874–1957), Felix Nager (1877–1959), Hans Hunziker (1878–1941), Karl Henschen, Willy Knoll, Emil Looser. He died in 1937 at the age of 78 in Heidelberg; His urn is buried in the family grave in Zurich.