He is known as "the father of modern pathology " and as the founder of social medicine , and to his colleagues, the "Pope of medicine". From it, he coined a well known aphorism: "Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing else but medicine on a large scale". He co-founded the political party Deutsche Fortschrittspartei , and was elected to the Prussian House of Representatives and won a seat in the Reichstag.
His opposition to Otto von Bismarck 's financial policy resulted in duel challenge by the latter. However, Virchow supported Bismarck in his anti-Catholic campaigns, which he named Kulturkampf "culture struggle". A prolific writer, he produced more than scientific writings. Virchow was the first to describe and name diseases such as leukemia , chordoma , ochronosis , embolism , and thrombosis.
He coined biological terms such as " neuroglia ", " agenesis ", " parenchyma ", " osteoid ", " amyloid degeneration ", and " spina bifida "; terms such as Virchow's node , Virchow—Robin spaces , Virchow—Seckel syndrome , and Virchow's triad are named after him.
His description of the life cycle of a roundworm Trichinella spiralis influenced the practice of meat inspection. He developed the first systematic method of autopsy , [ 13 ] and introduced hair analysis in forensic investigation.
He was critical of what he described as "Nordic mysticism" regarding the Aryan race. He described the original specimen of Neanderthal man as nothing but that of a deformed human.
