Arnold Ludwig Gotthilf Heller (May 1, 1840 - 1913) was a German anatomist and pathologist who was a native of Kleinheubach am Main

Kleinheubach

Kleinheubach is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany and the seat of the like-named Verwaltungsgemeinschaft .- Location :...

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

.

He studied medicine at the Universities of Erlangen, Berlin and Leipzig

University of Leipzig

The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...

, and as a student had as instructors Friedrich Albert von Zenker

Friedrich Albert von Zenker

Friedrich Albert von Zenker was a German pathologist and physician, celebrated for his discovery of trichinosis. He was born in Dresden, and was educated in Leipzig and Heidelberg. Attached to the city hospital of Dresden in 1851, he added, in 1855, the duties of professor of pathological...

 (1825-1898), Carl Ludwig

Carl Ludwig

----Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig was a German physician and physiologist.In 1842 Ludwig became a professor of physiology and in 1846 of comparative anatomy...

 (1816-1895) and Rudolf Virchow

Rudolf Virchow

Rudolph Carl Virchow was a German doctor, anthropologist, pathologist, prehistorian, biologist and politician, known for his advancement of public health...

 (1821-1902). In 1866 he received his medical doctorate, and in 1869 was habilitated at Erlangen

Erlangen

Erlangen is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the confluence of the river Regnitz and its large tributary, the Untere Schwabach.Erlangen has more than 100,000 inhabitants....

. In 1872 he became professor of general pathology and pathological anatomy at the University of Kiel

University of Kiel

The University of Kiel is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in 1665 as the Academia Holsatorum Chiloniensis by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and has approximately 23,000 students today...

.

In 1899 Heller proved that syphilis

Syphilis

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...

 was a cause of aortic aneurysm

Aortic aneurysm

An aortic aneurysm is a general term for any swelling of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal, usually representing an underlying weakness in the wall of the aorta at that location...

, and with his assistant Karl Gottfried Paul Döhle

Karl Gottfried Paul Döhle

Karl Gottfried Paul Döhle was a German pathologist who was a native of Mühlhausen.He was a student at Tübingen, Leipzig, Strassburg and Kiel, where he received his doctorate in 1882. Afterwards he was an assistant at the pathological institute in Kiel, and in 1908 was appointed head of the...

 (1855-1928), he described syphilitic aortitis

Syphilitic aortitis

Syphilitic aortitis is a disease of the aorta associated with the tertiary stage of syphilis infection. SA begins as inflammation of the adventia, including the vessels that supply the aorta itself with blood, the vasa vasorum...

, which is sometimes referred to as "Döhle-Heller syndrome". In 1869 he demonstrated how lymph

Lymph

Lymph is considered a part of the interstitial fluid, the fluid which lies in the interstices of all body tissues. Interstitial fluid becomes lymph when it enters a lymph capillary...

 propulsion takes place in the lymph vessels.

• Associated eponym:
• Heller's plexus: Plexus of small arteries in the intestinal wall.