Wilhelm von Henke

Philipp Jakob Wilhelm von Henke (19 June 1834 in Jena – 17 May 1896 in Tübingen) was a German anatomist.

In 1858 he obtained his habilitation, then later served as a professor of anatomy at the universities of Rostock (from 1865), Prague (from 1872) and Tübingen (from 1875 up until his death in 1896).

[2][3] Henke was a notable figure in the movement believing that the famous Ancient Greek Venus de Milo statue, sculpted some time between 150 - 100 BC, possibly had some kind of spinal curvature condition, like scoliosis.

Henke noted that the statue of the Greek goddess Aphrodite had a slanted pelvis and legs of different lengths.

Henke's colleague, Christophe Hasse, later performed extensive studies into the matter and concluded that the imperfections and asymmetry in the Venus de Milo statue were not significant enough to imply any kind of spinal issue or condition when compared to the population as a whole.