Ferdinand Cohn

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

Life

Cohn was born in 1828 in Breslau, the son of a businessman. After graduation in 1844 at the Mary Magdalene Gymnasium, he studied at Breslau and Berlin Eilhard Mitscherlich Medicine, 1847, he received his doctorate. In 1849 he became a member of Leopoldinisch - Carolinischen Academy and an honorary member of the Regensburg Botanical Society. In 1850 he was Privatdozent in Berlin. 1851 appointed him to the University of Breslau as a lecturer. In 1852 he became a member in 1856 and director of the botanical section of the Silesian Society for patriotic culture.

In 1859 he qualified as a professor in Breslau and was ao Professor and Director of the Botanical Museum of the University. In 1866 he founded the Institute of plant physiology.

In 1870 he discovered in drinking water wells, a filamentous bacterium. He called his discovery wells thread or Crenothrix polyspora. As Cohn's main scientific work today his efforts to the classification of bacteria are considered.

In 1872 he became a full professor of botany. He devoted himself to the biology of the lower forms of life, particularly the bacteria, was co-founder of microbiology and established the use of sterile nutrient media. He also discovered the botanical garden of the Lorenz Scholz of Rosenau in Wroclaw again. In 1895 he became a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris.

Cohn died in 1898 in his native city of Wroclaw. His grave can still be found on the local Old Jewish Cemetery.

Honors

In 1885, Cohn received the Leeuwenhoek Medal of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences. In 1895 he was awarded the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London. In 1897 he was admitted as a " Foreign Member " of the Royal Society. In 1893, he was "socio straniero " of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

Carl Christian Mez was named in his honor, a genus of bromeliads, Deuterocohnia. Since there was already a genus of Liliaceae called Cohnia at this time, the Greek prefix deuteros ( = second ) was used to form a new valid name.

Works

• On the Natural History of Protococcus Pluvialis. Bonn, 1851
• Humanity and the plant world. Wroclaw, 1851
• The budget of the plants Leipzig, 1854
• Studies on the evolution of microscopic algae and fungi. Bonn, 1854
• Contributions to the biology of plants (series, Breslau, 1870 justified)
• New studies on bacteria. Bonn, 1872-75
• The plant. Leipzig, 1882. ISBN 9,783,864,446,085th reprint of the original. Saltwater -Verlag, 2011