Lively contributions: 150 years after Johannes (Jan) Evangelist Purkinje passing

Background: Johannes Evangelist Purkinje was a remarkable Czech scientist who made discoveries concerning the structure and function of the eye, brain and heart which gave him countless eponyms. Beside biological science, Purkinje translated poetry from German, Russian and Polish to Czech and was an active Czech patriot. Objective: Brief review of Purkinje life and accomplishments in honor of his 150 th death anniversary. Methods: Based on literature research performed at PubMed. Results: On December 17, 1787, Purkinje was born in Libochovice Castle, then Bohemia – Empire Austro-Hungarian (now Czech Republic). Since a young child, Purkinje highlighted himself by his wit and intelligence. Attended the Piarist order at the Stará Voda monastery (Moravia), not to became a priest but to acquire advancer education. He then moved to Prague where attended physical science courses at the Philosophical Institute of Universitas Carolo-Ferdinandea and after enrolled as a student at Medical Faculty of the University of Prague which culminated with his dissertation, Contributions to the Knowledge of Vision from the Subjective Point of View in 1818 Acted as an anatomy instructor at Prague Medical Faculty between 1819 and 1822 and, in 1823, was accepted as Professor of Physiology and Pathology at the Medical Faculty of the Royal Prussian University of Breslau. In November 1839, Purkinje founded the Wroclaw’s Institute of Physiology, which was not solely dedicated to research but also to Czech and Polish culture. In 1850, back in Prague, accepted the nomination of Professor of Physiology at the Medical Faculty of Prague, where he graduated. Honored with the Imperial Austrian Order of Leopold in 1868, conferred for merit and moral integrity, Purkinje died a year later, on July 28, 1869, in Prague. Despite his primary focus not being on cardiology, one of Purkinje’s discoveries was the identification of a specialized conduction pathway in the heart known as Purkinje fibers. These fibers are now recognized as cardiomyocytes specialized in conducting electrical signals from the His bundle to the contractile ventricular myocytes. Among the many eponyms attributed to the Czech physiologist, perhaps one of the most celebrated are the Purkinje cells: the largest neurons of the cerebellum. Purkinje and his group examined slices of sheep cerebellum fixed with alcohol in a series of experiments that would accurately describe each of the three layers of the cerebellar cortex. Through these experiments, attributed to the cerebellum the role of precision of motor movements. Beyond histological descriptions, Purkinje also dedicated himself to investigating the mechanisms of balance and vertigo, giving rise to Purkinje’s law of vertigo. Conclusion: Throughout his brief 52 years of life, Purkinje left a legacy which goes beyond the medical field. The year of 2024 marks 155 years of his death, however his contributions remain relevant and alive.