{{Short description|Swedish professor of anatomy}} [[File:Anders Retzius.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Anders Retzius, by<br/>{{ill|Jean Haagen|sv}} (copy of an original by an unknown artist)]] '''Anders Adolph Retzius''' (13 October 1796&nbsp;– 18 April 1860), was a [[Sweden|Swedish]] professor of [[anatomy]] and a supervisor at the [[Karolinska Institute]] in Stockholm.

==Biography== Retzius was born in [[Lund]] to [[Anders Jahan Retzius]] and Ulrika Beata Prytz in 1796. His brother was the doctor {{ill|Magnus Kristian Retzius|sv}}. He enrolled at [[Lund University]] in 1812 where he studied medicine, and alternated with studies in [[University of Copenhagen|Copenhagen]], until he in 1818 became a licensed [[doctor of medicine]]. Through his friendship with [[Jöns Jakob Berzelius]], as early as 1824 he was appointed temporary professor of anatomy at the [[Karolinska Institute]], an institute to which he dedicated much of his strength for many years. In 1830 he was also appointed temporary supervisor there, and in 1840 he was appointed both permanent professor and supervisor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hanson |first=Hertha |title=Anders A Retzius |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=6598&forceOrdinarySite=true#Arkivuppgifter |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=[[Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon]] |language=sv}}</ref> Pathologist [[Axel Key]] was one of his students.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Gustafsson |first=Torbjörn |title=M Gustaf Retzius |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/Sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=6601 |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=[[Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon]] |language=sv}}</ref>

During the next decades he made many anatomical discoveries, for instance about the finer parts of the teeth, of the skull, of the muscles and of the nervous system. He was also an [[anthropologist]], whose [[craniometry|studies of the human cranium]] led to the classifications [[dolichocephalic]] and [[brachycephalic]]. He was considered to be very knowledgeable and was elected into many of the scientific academies at the time. He is credited with defining the [[cephalic index]], which is the ratio of width to length of one's head.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Anders Adolf Retzius {{!}} Swedish anatomist and anthropologist {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anders-Adolf-Retzius |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

Retzius was a [[polygenist]]. Retzius studied many different skull types from different races; because the skulls were so different from each race, he believed that the races had a separate origin.<ref>Peter Rowley-Conwy, From Genesis to Prehistory: The Archaeological Three Age System and its Contested Reception in Denmark, Britain, and Ireland, 2007, p. 120</ref>

The [[retropubic space]] of Retzius is named after him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baskett |first=Thomas F. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781108336710/type/book |title=Eponyms and Names in Obstetrics and Gynaecology |date=2019-01-31 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-33671-0 |edition=3 |doi=10.1017/9781108421706.277}}</ref> The [[peritoneum]] lies deep to the posterior layer of [[transversalis fascia]] and is very adherent to it. Distally, this close contact remains in the area lateral to the epigastrics. Medially, however, the peritoneum reflects on the roof of the [[Urinary bladder|bladder]] and runs sharply dorsally, away from the deep layer of transversalis fascia. The separation of transversalis fascia and peritoneum contains loose fatty tissue allowing for the filling of the bladder. This space is called the retropubic space of Retzius (from the Clinic of Digestive Surgery, University Hospital St-Pierre, Brussels).

Retzius was active in the [[temperance movement]], engaging himself in the battle against the Swedish drinking habits&nbsp;– which at this time had a significant impact on Swedish society&nbsp;– with works on the harmful effects liquor has on the body. Along with {{Ill|Bengt Franc-Sparre|sv}}, {{Ill|August von Hartmansdorff|sv}}, [[Jöns Jacob Berzelius]], [[Samuel Owen (engineer)|Samuel Owen]], [[George Scott (missionary)|George Scott]], and others, he was one of the founders of [[Svenska Sällskapet för Nykterhet och Folkuppfostran|Svenska Nykterhetssällskapet]], the Swedish Temperance Society, in 1837.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=[[Nordisk familjebok]] |pages=1025ff |language=sv |chapter=Svenska nykterhetssällskapet |date=1918 |chapter-url=https://runeberg.org/nfcg/0553.html |via=[[Project Runeberg]]}}</ref>

In 1826, he was elected a member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]].

The [[Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography]] previously awarded the Anders Retzius Medal in Gold to world-leading scholars in [[human geography]] and [[anthropology]]. In 2015, the Society decided that it was inappropriate to award a medal in Retzius's name considering his contributions to [[phrenology]].<ref>{{cite news| last=af Kleen| first=Björn| title=Stopp för medalj till rasforskarens minne| newspaper=Dagens Nyheter| location=Stockholm| date=7 March 2015| url=https://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/stopp-for-medalj-till-rasforskarens-minne-1/}}</ref>

He was the father of [[Gustaf Retzius]].<ref name=":0" />

Retzius died in Stockholm in 1860.

== See also == * [[Striae of Retzius]]

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Anders Retzius}}

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{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Retzius, Anders}} [[Category:1796 births]] [[Category:1860 deaths]] [[Category:Scientists from Lund]] [[Category:Swedish anatomists]] [[Category:Swedish anthropologists]] [[Category:Swedish biologists]] [[Category:19th-century Swedish scientists]] [[Category:People connected to Lund University]] [[Category:Academic staff of the Karolinska Institute]] [[Category:Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] [[Category:Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala]] [[Category:Lund University alumni]]