Johann Conrad Brunner

Johann Conrad Brunner

Portrait of Johann Conrad Brunner
Born January 16, 1653
Diessenhofen
Died October 2, 1727
Mannheim
Education Schaffhausen, Strasbourg and Paris

Medical career

Profession anatomist

Johann Conrad Brunner (16 January 1653 – 2 October 1727) was a Swiss anatomist, especially cited for his work on the pancreas and duodenum.[1]

Life

Brunner was born in Diessenhofen,[2] and studied medicine in Schaffhausen, Strasbourg, Amsterdam, London and Paris. At Schaffhausen he studied under Johann Jakob Wepfer (1620–1695), who was also his father-in-law. He received his doctorate in 1672 from the University of Strasbourg.[2] Beginning in 1686 he was a professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Heidelberg.[2] In 1716, Brunner was appointed personal physician to Charles III Philip the new Elector of the Palatinate.[2] He received many accolades during his life including a knighthood with the title "Brunn von Hammerstein".[2] He died in 1727 in Mannheim, Germany.[1]

Work

Brunner is remembered for his experiments and studies of the pancreas and the internal secretions associated with that organ. In 1683 he removed the pancreas from a dog and noticed that the animal experienced extreme thirst and polyuria. Despite his intuitive grasp of the connection between the pancreas and diabetes, he was unable to provide a theoretical link for the role of the pancreas in that disease. He published his findings on pancreatic research in a treatise titled Experimenta Nova circa Pancreas. Accedit diatribe de lympha & genuino pancreatis usu.

in 1687 he described tubuloalveolar glands in the submucous layer of the duodenum, which were later named Brunner's glands. Two disorders associated with these glands are:

Written works

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Smith, Benjamin Eli, ed. (1918). "Brunner, Johann Conrad". The Century Cyclopedia of Names. (The Century Dictionary Volume IX). New York: The Century Company. p. 189.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Hirsch, Aug. (1876). "Brunner, Joh. Konrad B.". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 3. p. 447.

References