Vladimir Alekseyevich Betz (April 14, 1834 - 1894) - Russian anatomist and histologist, professor of the Kiev University

Kiev University

Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...

, famous for the discovery of giant pyramidal neurons

Betz cell

Betz cells are pyramidal cell neurons located within the fifth layer of the grey matter in the primary motor cortex, M1. They are named after Vladimir Alekseyevich Betz, who described them in his work published in 1874. These neurons are the largest in the central nervous system, sometimes reaching...

 of primary motor cortex

Primary motor cortex

The primary motor cortex is a brain region that in humans is located in the posterior portion of the frontal lobe. Itworks in association with pre-motor areas to plan and execute movements. M1 contains large neurons known as Betz cells, which send long axons down the spinal cord to synapse onto...

.

Vladimir Betz began his education in the Nizhyn

Nizhyn

Nizhyn is a city located in the Chernihiv Oblast of northern Ukraine, along the Oster River, north-east of the nation's capital, Kiev. It is the administrative center of the Nizhynsky Raion, though the city itself is also designated as a district in the oblast...

 Gymnasium

Gymnasium (school)

A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

. Later he transferred to the 2nd Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 Gymnasium and graduated from it in 1853. In 1860 he received a physician's diploma from the Medicine faculty of Saint Vladimir University in Kiev

Kiev University

Taras Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv , colloquially known in Ukrainian as KNU is located in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is the third oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and Kharkiv University. Currently, its structure...

 and was appointed a prosector

Prosector

A prosector is a person with the special task of preparing a dissection for demonstration, usually in medical schools or hospitals. Many important anatomists began their careers as prosectors working for lecturers and demonstrators in anatomy and pathology....

's aide at the anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 department. He left abroad to study in May 1861 and had returned in September 1862, having studied with and attended the lectures of professors Brücke, Bunsen, Kölliker, Helmholtz, Kirchhoff. From 1864 to 1867 he lectures anatomy and histology at the university, rising in 1868 to the rank of Extraordinary Professor and in 1870 becoming Ordinary Professor of the anatomy department.

Brain tissue preparations made by Betz were awarded medals twice - at the All-Russian manufacturing exhibition in 1870 and at Vienna World Exposition of 1873. In 1874, Vladimir Alekseyevich described the giant pyramidal neurons in the primary motor cortex, which later were named Betz cell

Betz cell

Betz cells are pyramidal cell neurons located within the fifth layer of the grey matter in the primary motor cortex, M1. They are named after Vladimir Alekseyevich Betz, who described them in his work published in 1874. These neurons are the largest in the central nervous system, sometimes reaching...

s.

Betz' most prominent works include:

• "On the hepatic blood circulation" (1863)
• "A new method of human CNS
  Central nervous system
  The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
  
  exploration" (1870)
• "On the grouping of the convolutions of human brain" (1871)
• "Two centers in the human brain cortex" (1875)
• "An anatomy of the human brain surface, with an atlas and 86 tables" (1883)
• "Historical figures of the Russian South-West" (1883, coauthored by prof. B.A.Antonovich)