Vladimir Betz

Vladimir Betz
Born	26 April 1834 Tatarovschina, Ostyorsky Uyezd, Chernigov Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died	12 October 1894 Kyiv, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire
Nationality	Ukrainian
Citizenship	Russian Empire
Alma mater	Saint Vladimir University of Kyiv
Known for	discovery of Betz cells
Awards	medals for brain tissue samples at All-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition (1870), Vienna World Exposition (1873)
Scientific career
Fields	Anatomy

Vladimir Alexeyevich Betz, also Volodymyr Oleksiyovych Betz (Russian: Владимир Алексеевич Бец, Ukrainian: Володи́мир Олексійович Бец; 26 April [O.S. 14 April] 1834 – 12 October [O.S. 30 September] 1894) was a Russian and Ukrainian anatomist and histologist, served as a professor at the Saint Vladimir University of Kyiv.

Biography

Vladimir Betz was born in a small village of Tatarovschina. He began his studies in Nezhin, and later attended the 2nd Kyiv Gymnasium, where he graduated in 1853. In 1860, he completed the Kyiv University course in the Faculty of Medicine, earning his doctor’s degree. Subsequently, he served as an assistant prosector in the anatomy department, and later worked as a dissector. From May 1861 to September 1862 he was sent abroad, where he studied and listened to lectures by professors Brücke, Ludwig, Bunsen, Kölliker, Kirchhoff and Helmholtz. Doctoral dissertation – “On blood circulation in the liver” (1863). From 1864 to 1867 he taught a course in human anatomy at the natural sciences and histology at the medical faculties, as well as special courses on the anatomy of the nervous system and analytical chemistry. In 1868 he was confirmed as an extraordinary professor, and in 1870 as an ordinary professor in the department of anatomy. For the preparation of preparations of the human brain, he was twice awarded medals (in 1870 at the All-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition and in 1873 at the World Exhibition in Vienna) and received a very flattering review of them from the famous anatomist Professor Hyrtl.

He took an active part in the public life of Kyiv. One of the founders of the Kyiv Natural Research Society. In 1890 Professor Betz left the post of head of the department of anatomy at the Saint Vladimir University and resigned. Remaining a consultant on nervous diseases at the Kyiv Kirillov Hospital (Psychiatric Hospital named after Academician I. P. Pavlov), until the end of his days Betz worked as the chief physician of the South-Western Railway.

Vladimir Betz headstone at the Vydubychi Monastery, Kyiv. The inscription reads: "To the initiator of studies of the Central Nervous System, the professor of anatomy of the Kyiv University, Vladimir Alekseyevich Betz. 1834-1894. Grateful Ukrainian morphologists."

Scientific activity

Author of about 50 scientific papers. Main direction of scientific research: anatomy and histology of the central nervous system. In 1874 Betz described giant pyramidal neurons of the primary motor cortex of the brain, which later received the name Betz cells. Vladimir is the founder of the doctrine of cytoarchitectonics of the brain. He developed an original method for making anatomical preparations and collected over 8,000 preparations of human and animal brains. Discovered the chromaffin reaction of the adrenal medulla. Studied embryogenesis and growth of human bones.

Director of the Anatomical Theater in Kyiv. Full member of the Imperial Natural History Society, Imperial Nature Society, corresponding member of the Paris Anthropological Society, authorized member of the Leipzig Ethnographic Museum.

Vladimir Betz was an unsurpassed master of making anatomical preparations. Under a microscope, he made the thinnest cuts into the cells. For a collection of brain preparations, which was exhibited in St. Petersburg in 1870, he was awarded a silver medal. The unique collection was valued at 7,000 Austrian guilders, but the owner categorically refused to sell it, and later donated it to Kyiv University.

Awards

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.

Essays

• “On blood circulation in the liver” (dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Medicine, Kyiv, 1863);

• “A new method for studying the human central nervous system” (“Notes of the Kyiv Society of Naturalists”, 1870 and “Archiv von Max Schultze”, 1870);

• “On the grouping of convolutions of the human brain” (“Notes of the Kyiv Society of Naturalists”, 1871);

• “Das Gesetz der Vertheilung der Gyri und Sulci der menschlichen Gehirnoberfläche” (“Sitzber. der Wiener Psychiatren”);

• “Two centers in the human cerebral cortex” (“Moscow Medical Bulletin”, 1875);

• “Anatomy of the surface of the human brain, with an atlas and 86 tables” (“University News”, 1883);

• “Historical figures of South-Western Russia” (Kyiv, 1883, together with Professor B. A. Antonovich).