Max Verworn

Max Verworn (1863-1921)

Max Richard Constantin Verworn (November 4, 1863 - November 23, 1921) was a German physiologist who was a native of Berlin.

He studied medicine and natural sciences in Berlin, and later moved to Jena, where he furthered his studies with Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) and William Thierry Preyer (1841–1897). In 1895 he became a professor at the University of Jena, and in 1901 a professor at the physiological institute at Göttingen. Later, as successor to Eduard Pflüger, he became a professor at the University of Bonn (1910). In 1902 he founded the journal Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Physiologie (Journal of General Physiology), and was its publisher until his death in 1921.^[1]

Max Verworn is remembered for his research in the field of experimental physiology, and especially for his work involving cellular physiology. He did extensive studies of the elementary physiological processes that take place in muscle tissue, nerve fibers and sensory organs. He also conducted research in the fields of phylogenesis and ontogenesis, and is credited for introducing the concept of "conditionalism" to describe a state or process determined by totality of its processes. He was influenced by Ernst Haeckel's theory of evolutionism, and postulated that physiological phenomena observed in higher animals may be recognizable in simple life-forms.

He also conducted investigations into human creativity and thought processes. In his studies of art, he believed that there were two types of style and aims of artistic representation. These two concepts he called "physioplastic" and "ideoplastic". He described physioplastic as direct reproduction of the object or its immediate image in memory, and ideoplastic as an intutitive attempt to create what the eye sees.

Selected written works

• Psychophysiologische Protistenstudien, 1889
• Die Bewegung der lebendigen Substanz, 1892
• Allgemeine Physiologie, 1895
• Die Biogenhypothese, 1903
• Naturwissenschaft und Weltanschauung, 1904
• Die Mechanik des Geisteslebens, 1907
• Zur Psychologie der primitiven Kunst, 1907
• Die Frage nach den Grenzen der Erkenntnis, 1908

References

1. ^ C., E. P. (1922-02-06). "Obituary: Prof. Max Verworn". Nature 109 (2729): p. 213. doi:10.1038/109213a0. 

• This article is based on a translation of an article from the French Wikipedia.
• Dynamic and Statistical Regularity in Physics and Biology
• Theories of Art: From Impressionism to Kandinsky by Moshe Barasch
• Brief biography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute

Persondata
Name	Verworn, Max
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Date of birth	November 4, 1863
Place of birth
Date of death	November 23, 1921
Place of death