Paul Ernst (pathologist)

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

Life

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 father was a medical doctor as well and, for a short term (1860-1863), Professor and director of the medical and surgery outpatient clinic in Zurich. 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. This 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. This was followed by an appointment as a pathology assistant with Julius Arnold at the Ruperto Carola Universitat in Heidelberg. 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 1900-1907.

From 1904 to 1906, he acted as dean of the Medical Faculty of the university. He subsequently was asked to return to the University of Heidelberg, where he was appointed as a full professor as successor of his former mentor Julius Arnold from 1907-1928. Here, he was appointed twice as dean of the medical faculty in 1908-1909 and 1918-1919, respectively. He published on various subjects of pathology in more than 100 scientific contributions such as on histopathological staining methods of Corynebacterium xerosis and he discovered and described together with Victor Babeș metachromatic granules occurring in the protoplasm of gram-positive bacteriae, protozoa and algae, which were later known under the eponymous name Babes-Ernst granules. 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 the work of Rudolf Virchow 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 professor: Heinrich Zangger (1874-1957), Felix Nager (1877-1959), Hans Hunziker (1878-1941), Karl Henschen, Willy Knoll, Emil Looser. He passed away in 1937 at the age of 78 in Heidelberg; His urn is buried in the family grave "Privatfriedhof Hohen Promenade" in Zurich.

Other sources

• Paul Ernst: Virchows cellularpathologie einst und jetzt.
• Andreas Wieser (Zurich; 1993) Inaugural dissertation. Der Pathologe Paul Ernst (1859-1937)
• Nachkommen von Prof.Dr. Fritz Ernst, 1828-1911, Familienblaetter C. (Stiftung"Familie Ernst zum Tannenberg, Winterthur, im Selbstverslag).