Jan Evangelista Purkynje was an extraordinary scholar. His candidacy for the position of professor of physiology was supported by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Alexander von Humboldt. He moved to Wrocław from Prague in 1822. He worked here twenty eight years which were the most creative years of this life. He studied bird embryos, he discovered subendocardial fibers responsible for stimulation of heart chambers (Purkynje fibers). He was the first one to describe sweat glands, he discovered outgrowths in the cerebellum called neurites (Purkynje layer). He explained the phenomenon of adaptation of the eye to light and darkness. He also initiated histopathological examination of human tissue. He created in Wrocław the first Institute of Physiology in the world.