Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs

Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs ( born March 24, 1819 in Aurich, † March 14, 1885 in Berlin) was a German internist and ophthalmologist. He is regarded as the founder of experimental clinical medicine.

Life and work

Frerichs studied medicine at the University of Göttingen from 1838 to 1841. Upon his graduation, he worked for four years as an ophthalmologist in Aurich, but returned in 1846 returned to Göttingen where he habilitated and dealt with physiological- chemical studies. In 1850 he was appointed professor at the University of Kiel, 1852 at the University of Breslau, and finally in 1859 as the successor of Johann Lukas Schönlein at the Charité in Berlin, where he became director of the First Medical Clinic. Paul Ehrlich was there from 1878 to 1885 his assistant.

Priorities Frerichs research were metabolic processes in the liver and kidneys, corresponding diseases and their diagnosis. Bernhard Naunyn, one of his pupils, described him as confident and unshakable. Frerichs died according to some data from a stroke, as stated by his assistant Krönig from an overdose of opium.

According to him, awarded by the German Society for Internal Medicine Theodor Frerichs award is named. In his honor, the University Hospitals of Heidelberg are named ( Ludolf - Krehl Clinic ) and Freiburg cardiology stations in the medical departments.

In his Berlin apartment building, now housing the Swiss Embassy in Berlin.