Julius Wolf was born on March 21, 1836 in Märkisch Friedland, and received his doctorate in 1861 in the field of surgery under Bernhard von Langenbeck at Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin. In 1861 he settled down after the state examination as a general practitioner in Berlin. He participated as a surgeon in three military campaigns. Based on observations in his long career as a surgeon, he postulated Wolff's law, which describes the relationship between bone geometry and mechanical influences on bone. For this he was with leading scientists of his time in active contact. Karl Culmann, Wilhelm Roux, Christian Otto Mohr and Albert Hoffa gave him support for the interpretation and evaluation of its research. His work established the mechanism and thus physical factors in evolutionary biology. He saw his work as an extension of the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin. . His work was one of the mile stones for orthopedics as a distinct discipline in medicine. Julius Wolff was the first professor of orthopedics at the Charité and the founder and director of the first Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Berlin. His scientific work has to this day a significant impact on orthopedic surgery. His findings that adapted bone altered mechanical conditions found today in application of musculoskeletal research, orthopedics, trauma surgery, rehabilitation, mechano-and cell biology and tissue engineering. He died on February 18, 1902 of a stroke.
Timeline
21. März 1836 Born in Märkisch-Friedland in West Prussia from 1849 Grammar school „Zum Grauen Kloster“ in Berlin 1855- 1860 Medical Study at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Berlin 1860 Thesis by Bernhard Langenbeck - Title: „De Artificiali Ossium Productione in Animalibus“ 1861 Establishment of a general practitioner in Berlin medical officer at the „Lebens Versicherungs Gesellschaft Germania“ 1868 Professorship and appointment as private instructors with course work at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin 1869 Wedding with Anna Weigert 1870 Publication „About the inner architecture of bone and its relevance to the issue of bone growth" 1882 Establishing the „Private hospital for surgical diseases“ 1884 Appointment as associate professor of Faculty of Medicine at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University to Berlin from 1886 Board Member of the Free Association of Surgeons of Berlin 1890 Establishment a part of the private hospital as a "Provisional Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University, and appointed as its director 1892 Publication of his magnum opus "The law of transformation of the bone" 1894 Transfer of the temporary clinic in 'Department of Orthopedic Surgery with University Budget 1899 Appointment as Privy Medical Officer of Health at the Medical Faculty of the Friedrich-Wilhelms-University 1901 Co-founder of the German Society for Orthopedic Surgery " 1901 Acquisition of the clinic in the Charité group as a "Royal University Polyclinic" 18. February 1902 Death from stroke