Eduard von Rindfleisch


Georg Eduard von Rindfleisch was a German pathologist and histologist. He was born in Köthen and died in Würzburg.

Academic career

He studied medicine in Würzburg, Berlin and Heidelberg, earning his doctorate in 1859. After obtaining his degree, he served as an assistant to Rudolf Virchow in Berlin, then in 1862 received his habilitation at the University of Breslau. In 1864 he became an associate professor of pathology at the University of Zurich, and during the following year, attained a full professorship at Bonn. In 1874 he acquired the chair of pathology at the University of Würzburg.
He was one of the first proposers of a vascular theory for multiple sclerosis after noticing in 1863 that the inflammation-associated lesions were distributed around veins. This work was the ground layer for the later Tracy Putnam work in the vascular theory of MS.
Also, he made noteworthy contributions in his pioneer research of tuberculosis. He was one of the leading advocates of scientific "neo-vitalism".

Associated eponyms