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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Fabrication and Design of Wood-Based High-Performance Composites
Published on: November 9, 2019
Emil du Bois-Reymond vs Ludimar Hermann
1Department of History, CB 182, University of Colorado at Denver, Denver, CO 80217, USA. gabriel.finkelstein@cudenver.edu
Abstract:
This essay recounts a controversy between a pioneer electrophysiologist, Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896), and his student, Ludimar Hermann (1838-1914). Du Bois-Reymond proposed a molecular explanation for the slight electrical currents that he detected in frog muscles and nerves. Hermann argued that du Bois-Reymond's 'resting currents' were an artifact of injury to living tissue. He contested du Bois-Reymond's molecular model, explaining his teacher's observations as electricity produced by chemical decomposition. History has painted Hermann as the wrong party in this dispute. I seek to set the record straight.
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