Name Josef Rohon | ||
 | ||
Josef Victor Rohon (7 May 1845, Temes-Buttyin – 15 March 1923) was an Austrian paleontologist and neuroanatomist.
He studied medicine, zoology and neuroanatomy at the University of Vienna, where he was influenced by Theodor Meynert (1833-1892), Carl Claus (1835-1899), Hans Kundrat (1845-1893) and Eduard Albert (1841-1900). In 1884 he graduated magna cum laude at Munich, where he spent the ensuing years conducting paleontological research. At Munich, he worked closely with Karl Alfred von Zittel (1839-1904), performing research that included anatomical studies of conodonts.
In the spring of 1888, he relocated to St. Petersburg, where he served as a private tutor until 1895. Afterwards, he was an associate professor of histology (later for embryology) at the Karl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prague. In February 1903, he attained a full professorship of histology and embryology.
His name is associated with "Rohon-Beard cells", defined as large, mechanosensory neurons found in the dorsal spinal cord of fishes and amphibians. Rohon-Beard cells are present only in the embryonic and young larval (tadpole) stages.