Napoleon Cybulski – a Polish doctor who discovered adrenaline and overtook Freud

Napoleon Cybulski went down in the history of science as a co-discoverer of adrenaline, but he was a man of the Renaissance. Physiologist by profession, researcher and experimenter by passion, social worker and feminist by choice. Students remembered him as a wonderful mentor, encouraging them to search for themselves, generously sharing knowledge and ideas. He was a titan of work – apart from constant research, lectures and social campaigns, he ran a private dental practice to … support his family.

1. Napoleon Cybulski was a Polish physiologist and scientist, known primarily as a co-discoverer of adrenaline
2. He was the founder of the Kraków school of physiology, and for many years he held the most important positions in the authorities of the Jagiellonian University
3. He constructed a photohemotachometer and a microcalorimeter, and was one of the first to obtain an EEG recording of the cerebral cortex
4. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine three times
5. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

Scientific adrenaline

1895 was a good year for Napoleon Cybulski. Not only was he the second time he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the Jagiellonian University, but finally, 10 years after taking over the Department of Physiology, Histology and Embryology, he was exclusively given room in the newly built faculty building. He strove for its creation personally, for years administratively trying to raise funds and collecting them personally, inter alia, by organizing paid lectures – all in order for the laboratories to meet Western standards. The previous poor housing conditions not only did not guarantee work comfort, but also made it difficult to conduct research. Moving from ul. St. Anny, in the very center of the Main Square, at ul. Grzegórzecka was a huge change, although the plant manager spent five more years expanding the building and repairing or purchasing appropriate equipment.

In the same year, the founder of the Krakow school of physiology, together with his student and collaborator Władysław Szymonowicz, a histologist and embryologist, made a breakthrough discovery. He found that the adrenal glands secrete a substance that enters the bloodstream and causes a systemic reaction. He laboriously called it the adrenal gland, unaware that it had just revealed to the world one of the most important organic compounds – adrenaline (in the end, the substance had to be isolated for another six years – the Japanese chemist Jōkichi Takamine, who is also the author of the name adrenaline, managed to do so). The results of the research were surprising, because until now it was believed that only the nervous system in the body was responsible for the regulatory functions. From now on, Cybulski’s name will be associated with this substance forever, although his scientific achievements will reach much further.

The scale of the project by Krakow researchers is evidenced by the words of great appreciation that have flowed from other research centers in Europe. Cybulski and Szymanowicz were not the only ones to consider the unusual function of the adrenal glands. The British conducted similar research at that time and they also managed to achieve similar results. When George Oliver and Edward A. Sharpey-Schäfer got acquainted with the publication of scientists from the Jagiellonian University, in which they described the results of their analyzes, they had their own conclusions supplemented with a note in which they emphasized the importance and originality of the observations of Polish colleagues.

Napoleon Cybulski – the pride of the university

When the adrenal glands were discovered, Napoleon Cybulski was already a recognized researcher in the community. He has been working at the University of Kraków for a decade and has already published many interesting publications, but his professional career was still relatively short. The researcher crossed the thresholds of the Jagiellonian University in 1885, exactly in the same year in which he received the degree of doctor of medicine. He immediately found himself in the chair of the chairman, and only three years later he was the first dean of the faculty (1887-1888); He also took this position a few years later (1895-1896).

The fact that he was the right person in the right place is evidenced by the fact that less than a decade later he was appointed rector of the university (1904-1905), and then its vice-chancellor (1905-1909). However, when we take a closer look at the life and work of Napoleon Cybulski, such a fast and fruitful professional career should come as no surprise to anyone.

Born on September 14, 1854 in Krzywonosy in the Vilnius Region, a former farm estate located today in western Belarus, the researcher came from a Polish-Lithuanian noble family. Already in his early childhood, he showed a special love for biological sciences, although so far only “in practice”. Years later, he himself recalled that, despite his daily carelessness, he did not avoid punishments – his parents did not quite like his “experiments” on frogs and small reptiles …

The name he received, of course, in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte, which his father admired, was binding. Therefore, he graduated from the gymnasium in Minsk with a silver medal, and for the Military and Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, where he studied medicine, he quickly became a real pride – he was considered an extremely gifted student. Although he obtained his diploma (“with special praise”) in 1880, he had already found a job at the university three years earlier. As an assistant at the Department of Physiology, he established a long-term friendship with Ivan Tarkhanov (Tarkhishvili), a physiologist, and privately a descendant of Giorgi Saakadze, the national hero of Georgia. The relationship with the head of the department has stood the test of time. The Georgian prince – expelled from the St. Petersburg university for demonstrating pro-Polish sympathies – finally moved and settled near Cybulski’s property in the Krzeszowice commune near Krakow.

The Georgian influence on the Polish physiologist was considerable. Inspired by his teachings he studied the speed of blood flow in blood vessels and invented an instrument for this purpose (and recording the process photographed) – the photohemotachometer. It is probably he, a professor of physiology, who is “guilty” of Napoleon Cybulski’s interest in the then unfashionable biological science, and thus the removal of the talented researcher to the city of Polish kings.

It was from Krakow that Cybulski received a tempting offer to run one of the departments of the Jagiellonian University. As Anna Mateja, the author of the book «Adrenaline recipe. Napoleon Cybulski and the Cracow school of physiologists », in St. Petersburg, where he was valued, probably could not count on an independent position due to the great distrust towards Poles. But the language of instruction at the Jagiellonian University was also of great importance. The researcher allegedly did not hide his emotions when he conducted the lecture inaugurating his stay in Krakow – for the first time in Polish.

Stay ahead of the time

1890 is another important year in the professional life of the head of the Krakow cathedral. Cybulski then constructed another device – a microcalorimeter, which measured the amount of heat generated by muscles, and then obtained – as one of the first researchers – an EEG record of the cerebral cortex. Together with his other student – Adolf Beck – he studied the brain meticulously. Thanks to pioneering research on electroencephalographic waves, he located the sensory regions in it. He also checked what happens to feeling and swallowing in the case of intracranial hypertension. It was the aftermath of these studies that the adrenal medulla extract worked, and his team’s experiments became the driving force behind the development of electroencephalography. A few years later, with his other student, Marian Eiger, he was the first scientist in Poland to record the work of his heart using an EKG chart.

Cybulski was known for his diligence and stubbornness – when he found even the smallest point of reference in the issue he undertook, he did not rest until he had analyzed it thoroughly and came to a satisfactory conclusion. He also saw such potential in hypnosis. In the book “On hypnotism from the physiological standpoint” published in 1887, the researcher puts forward theses which years later were considered to precede Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconscious.

For his services to physiology, he was recognized by the world of science with a three-time chance to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. In 1911, his contribution to research on blood flow and adrenal function was noticed; however, the award was collected by the Swede, Allvar Gullstrand, for his pioneering work on eye dioptre. The nomination was renewed three years later, but this time Nobel also went to another scientist – Robert Bárány – for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular system. For the third and last time, in 1918, he was nominated for works in the field of electrobiology and microcalorimetry, among others. Ultimately, the Nobel Prize was not awarded.

Napoleon Cybulski – a Renaissance man

Cybulski’s versatile interests concerned not only the sphere of science. The physiologist was a great social activist. His heart was to raise the level of education and agricultural culture in the society, especially in those closest to him, near Krakow. He published books and articles on the organization of peasant farms, the obligation to support science by the state and society, and the status of science during the war. He researched the nutritional issues of the Galician rural community, with a particular interest in children’s diets. For some time, he was even the president of the Supervisory Board of Agricultural Circles in Krakow.

He attached great importance to gender equality. He called for women to be admitted to medical studies, and in 1891 founded the first female gymnasium in Kraków. It was thanks to him that three women entered the university in 1894, although at the beginning only as listeners, without the rights of students (the medical faculty began to admit women only at the beginning of the XNUMXth century).

He promoted healthy eating and physical activity, he was the vice-president of the Department of the “Falcon” Gymnastic Society. And at the same time, he was actively involved in the Polish Academy of Learning (PAU), the Society of Friends of Sciences and many medical societies. For many years he was a member of the Krakow City Council.

Privately, he was passionate about nature and technology, but as an erudite he also did not shy away from art – he attended theater and cabaret performances, and even played the cello, performing in string quartets. He was the head of a large family and the owner of the manor house in Nawojowa Góra, which he had to maintain. To this end, he set up a private dentist’s office where he worked “in his spare time”. He died suddenly on April 26, 1919 in his university office. The cause of death was a stroke.

Although Cybulski did not receive the highest recognition for the scientist, in 1918 he received an award from PAU for his activities, which certainly secured the future of his family. In 1936, he was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

According to Professor Adolf Beck, one of his many distinguished students, the researcher’s greatest reward was, however, “the happiness that he experienced in being able to see and reap the fruit while he was alive, the lush fruits of that blissful sowing that he sowed for science”.

Image source: National Digital Archives

The material was created thanks to the cooperation of Onet with its partner – the National Digital Archives, whose mission is to build a modern society aware of its past. NAC collects, stores and makes available photos, audio recordings and films. Digitized photos can be viewed at nac.gov.pl

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