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He was born in Libochovice, Bohemia on the 17th December 1787. In 1819 he graduated from the University of Prague with a degree in medicine, where he was appointed a Professor of Physiology after writing his doctoral dissertation. Working at the university, he discovered the Purkinje effect , whereby as light intensity decreases red objects seem to fade faster than blue objects of the same brightness. He published two volumes Observations and Experiments Investigating the Physiology of Senses and New Subjective Reports about Vision, which contributed to the emergence of the science of experimental psychology. He created the world's first Department of Physiology at the University of Breslau in Prussia in 1839 and the world's first official physiology laboratory in 1842.
He is best known for his 1837 discovery of Purkinje cell s, large neuronNeurons (also called nerve cells are the primary cells of the nervous system. In vertebrates, they are found in the brain, the spinal cord and in the nerves and ganglia of the peripheral nervous system. Classes There are three classes of neurons: afferents with many branching fibres found in the cerebral cortexThe cerebral cortex is the extensive outer layer of gray matter of the cerebral hemispheres, and is involved in higher brain functions, including sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning, and memory. The grooves between the Gyri (known as. He is also known for his discovery, in 1839 of Purkinje fibres, the fibrous tissue that conducts electrical impulses from the atrioventricular nodeThe atrioventricular node (abbreviated AV node is the tissue between the atria and the ventricles of the heart, which conducts the normal electrical impulse from the atria to the ventricles. The AV node receives two inputs from the atria: posteriorly via to all parts of the ventricles of the heartIn the heart a ventricle is a chamber which collects blood from an atrium (another heart chamber) and pumps it out of the heart. In a four-chambered heart, such as that in humans, there are two ventricles: the right ventricle pumps blood into the pulmonar. He also introduced the scientific terms plasmaBlood plasma is a component of blood. It is the liquid in which blood cells are suspended. Blood plasma contains proteins, nutrients, metabolic end products, hormones, and inorganic electrolytes. Serum is the same as blood plasma except that clotting fact (for the component of bloodBlood is a circulating tissue composed of fluid plasma and cells ( red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets). Medical terms related to blood often begin in hemo or hemato ( BE: haemo and haemato from the Greek word for "blood". Blood of different spe left when the suspended cells have been removed) and protoplasm (the substance found inside cells).
Purkinje was the first to use a microtome to make wafer thin slices of tissue for microscopic examination and was among the first to use an improved version of the compound microscope. He described the effects of camphor, opium, belladonna and turpentine on humans in 1829, discovered sweat glands in 1833 and recognised fingerprints as a method of indentification in 1823.
He died at the age of 82 on the 28th July, 1869.