Wilhelm Krause was a German anatomist born in Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

. In 1854 he earned his medical doctorate, and later (1860) became an associate professor at the University of Göttingen. In 1892 he was appointed head of the Anatomical Institute Laboratory in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. He was the son of anatomist Karl Friedrich Theodor Krause

Karl Friedrich Theodor Krause

Karl Friedrich Theodor Krause was a German anatomist who was born in Hannover. In 1818 he received his medical doctorate from the University of Göttingen, and later attained the chair of anatomy in Hannover. His son Wilhelm Krause was also an anatomist.Krause was one of the first anatomists to...

 (1797-1868).

Krause is remembered for the discovery and description of mechanoreceptor

Mechanoreceptor

A mechanoreceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to mechanical pressure or distortion. There are four main types in the glabrous skin of humans: Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner's corpuscles, Merkel's discs, and Ruffini corpuscles...

s that were to become known as Krause's corpuscles

Bulboid corpuscle

The bulboid corpuscles are cutaneous receptors in the human body.The end-bulbs of Krause were named after German anatomist Wilhelm Krause .-Structure:...

, sometimes called "Krause's end-bulbs". His name is also associated with "Krause's membranes", which are isotropic bands

Isotropic bands

In physiology, isotropic bands are skeletal muscle cells that form the light bands that contribute to the striated pattern of the cells.Isotropic bands indicate the behavior of polarized light as it passes through I bands....

 in striated muscle

Striated muscle

Striated muscle tissue is a form of fibers that are combined into parallel fibers. More specifically, it can refer to:* Cardiac muscle .* Skeletal muscle* Branchiomeric muscles...

 fiber that consist of disks of sarcoplasm

Sarcoplasm

The Sarcoplasm of a muscle fiber is comparable to the cytoplasm of other cells, but it houses unusually large amounts of glycosomes and significant amounts of myoglobin, an oxygen binding protein...

 and connect the individual fibril

Fibril

Fibril is a fine fiber approximately 1 nm in diameter.Cytoplasmic fibrils are observed on the protoplasmic cylinders found in most spirochetal species, although no function of the cytoplasmic fibrils has been ascribed....

s. In addition he performed pioneer research in the field of embryology

Embryology

Embryology is a science which is about the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage...

. One of his well-known students at Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

 was bacteriologist Robert Koch

Robert Koch

Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....

(1843-1910). Krause is credited with the publication of over 100 medical articles.

Written Works

• Die terminalen Körperchen der einfach sensiblen Nerven. Hannover, (Treatise on Krause's corpuscles), 1860
• Anatomische Untersuchungen, 1861.
• Die Trichinenkrankheit und ihre Verhütung
• Uber die Nervenendigung in der Geschlectsorganen, 1866.
• Ueber die Allantois des Menschen, 1875
• Handbuch der menschlichen Anatomie. (Third edition of his father's work) 3 volumes; Hanover, 1876, 1879, 1880.
• Die Anatomie des Kaninchens, publisher: Leipzig: Engelmann, 1884.