Ferdinand Julius Cohn

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Ferdinand Julius Cohn

Ferdinand Julius Cohn (born January 24, 1828 in Breslau ; † June 25, 1898 there ) was a German botanist and microbiologist . Alongside Robert Koch, he is one of the founders of modern bacteriology . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Cohn ".

Life

Cohn was born in Breslau in 1828 as the son of the oil trader and later consul Isaac Cohn and his wife Amalie, née Nissen. After graduating from high school in 1844 at the Maria Magdalenen grammar school in Breslau, he studied natural sciences (botany) in Breslau. Because of his Jewish origins, he was not allowed to do his doctorate in Breslau, so that he moved to Berlin in 1846, where he was a student of Eilhard Mitscherlich , and where he received his doctorate in 1847. In 1849 he became a member of the Leopoldine-Carolinian Academy and honorary member of the Regensburg Botanical Society . In 1850 he was a private lecturer in Berlin. In 1851 the University of Breslau appointed him as a private lecturer. In 1852 he became a member and in 1856 head of the botanical section of the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture . Ferdinand Cohn was a member of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors .

In 1859 he completed his habilitation in Breslau and became associate professor and director of the University's Botanical Museum. In 1866 he founded the Plant Physiological Institute.

In 1870 he discovered a thread-like bacterium in drinking water wells. He called his discovery Brunnenfaden or Crenothrix polyspora . His efforts to classify bacteria are now regarded as Cohn's main scientific work.

In 1872 he became a full professor of botany. He devoted himself to the biology of the lower forms of life, especially the bacteria, became a co-founder of microbiology and established the use of sterile culture media. He also rediscovered the botanical garden of Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau in Breslau. In 1895 he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris and in 1889 of the Prussian Academy of Sciences .

Cohn died in his native city of Breslau in 1898. His grave can still be found today in the old Jewish cemetery there .

Ferdinand Julius Cohn's grave in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Wrocław

Honors

Carl Christian Mez named a genus of the pineapple family , Deuterocohnia , in Cohn's honor . Since there was already a genus of the lily family called Cohnia at that time , the Greek prefix deúteros (= second) was used to form a new valid name.

For award winners who have made outstanding contributions to microbiology and / or hygiene, the Ferdinand Cohn Medal of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology was donated in honor of Ferdinand Cohn .

Works

literature

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand Julius Cohn  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Ferdinand Cohn  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of members Leopoldina, Ferdinand Cohn
  2. ↑ Members of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Doctors 1857
  3. ^ Members of the previous academies. Ferdinand Julius Cohn. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on March 9, 2015 .
  4. ^ Entry on Cohn; Ferdinand Julius (1828 - 1898) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
  5. ↑ Ferdinand Cohn Medal - German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology eV ( Memento of the original from August 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dghm.org
personal data
SURNAME Cohn, Ferdinand Julius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German botanist and bacteriologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH Wroclaw
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 1898
Place of death Wroclaw