Gierke studied medicine in Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig, Würzburg, Breslau and Munich, graduating in Würzburg, where he obtained his doctorate in 1872. In 1874 he became prosector at Würzburg, where his teacher was Albert von Kölliker. In 1876 he was appointed professor of anatomy at the Imperial University of Tokyo. For health reasons he had to give up his academic career and return to Germany. In 1881 he became an assistant in the Physiological Institute in Breslau and in 1882 attained the title of professor extraordinarius. In 1883 he visited the Zoological Station in Naples. His health deteriorated rapidly. Soon, he died in the psychiatric hospital in Schöneberg near Berlin, at the age of 39.
Legacy
He is best remembered for his research on staining methods in neurohistology and the localization of the respiratory center. The solitary tract in the brain stem is sometimes called the "Gierke respiratory bundle".
Works
Die Theile der Medulla oblongata, deren Verletzung die Athembewegungen hemmt, und das Athemcentrum. Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie des Menschen und der Thiere 7, pp. 583–600, 1873 doi:10.1007/BF01613350
Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Elemente des centralen Nervensystems. Breslauer ärztliche Zeitschrift 4, pp. 157; 172, 1882
Die Stützsubstanz des centralen Nervensystems. Neurologisches Centralblatt 2 (16, 17), pp. 361–369; 385-392, 1883
Japanische Malerei. Westermanns Monatshefte 54, pp. 202–219, 324-340, 1883
Ueber die Medicin in Japan in alten und neuen Zeiten. Breslauer ärztliche Zeitschrift pp. 64; 139, 1882
Ueber die Medicin in Japan in alten und neuen Zeiten. Deutsches Archiv für Geschichte der Medicin und Medicinische Geographie 7, pp. 1–15, 1884
Ueber die Medicin in Japan in alten und neuen Zeiten. Jahres-Bericht der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Vaterländische Cultur 60, pp. 18–30, 1882/1883
Die Zoologische Station in Neapel. T. Fischer, 1884
Färberei zu mikroskopischen Zwecken. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Mikroskopie und für mikroskopische Technik 1, 62-100; 372-408; 497-557, 2, 13-36; 164-221, 1885
Zur Frage des Atmungscentrums. Centralblatt für die medicinischen Wissenschaften 23, pp. 593–596, 1885
Staining Tissues in Microscopy. American Monthly Microscopical Journal 6, 13; 31; 52; 70; 97; 150, 1886
Die Stützsubstanz des Centralnervensystems. Archiv für Mikroskopische Anatomie 25, 1, 441-554, 1885 doi:10.1007/BF02966381 26, 1, pp. 129–228 doi:10.1007/BF02954585
