Rudolf Virchow, an only child, was born in a small rural town in Germany. His early interest in the natural sciences and broad humanistic training helped him get high marks throughout school. In 1839, his outstanding scholarly abilities earned him a military fellowship to study medicine at the Freidrich-Wilhelms Institut in Berlin, Germany. Virchow had the opportunity to study under Johannes Müller, gaining experience in experimental laboratory and diagnostic methods.

In 1843, he received his medical degree from the University of Berlin and went on to become company surgeon at the Charité Hospital in Berlin. In this post, he was one of the first to describe "white blood" (leukemia). As a young man, he became a powerful speaker for the new generation of German physicians. He viewed medical progress as coming from three main sources: clinical observations, including examination of the patient; animal experimentation to test methods...