Famous German Biologists

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 1 
Juliane Koepcke
(Lone Survivor of 1971 LANSA Plane Crash)
Juliane Koepcke
8
Birthdate: October 10, 1954
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Lima, Peru
Juliane Koepcke is a German Peruvian mammalogist. She is well-known for being the only survivor of the Líneas Aéreas Nacionales S.A. Flight 508 plane crash; she survived ten days in the Amazon rainforest after surviving a fall of 9843 feet while strapped to her airplane seat. Her story inspired films like Miracles Still Happen (1974) and Wings of Hope (1998).
 2 
Robert Koch
(Physician)
Robert Koch
4
Birthdate: December 11, 1843
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany
Died: May 27, 1910

Robert Koch was a German microbiologist and physician. One of the prominent co-founders of modern bacteriology, Koch is credited with creating and improving laboratory techniques and technologies in the field of microbiology. He is also credited with making important discoveries in public health. In 1905, Robert Koch won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on tuberculosis.

 3 
Theodor Schwann
(Physiologist)
Theodor Schwann
3
Birthdate: December 7, 1810
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Neuss, Germany
Died: January 11, 1882

Theodor Schwann was a German physiologist and physician best remembered for his important contributions to biology. He is credited with discovering the Schwann cells, which is named after him. He is also credited with discovering pepsin and the organic nature of yeast. Theodor Schwann also invented the term metabolism.

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 4 
Rudolf Virchow
(The Father of Modern Pathology' & the Founder of 'Social Medicine')
Rudolf Virchow
4
Birthdate: October 13, 1821
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Swidwin, Poland
Died: September 5, 1902

Rudolf Virchow was a German physician, pathologist, anthropologist, biologist, prehistorian, editor, writer, and politician. Nicknamed the Pope of medicine by his colleagues, Virchow is credited with founding the field of social medicine. He is also widely regarded as the father of modern pathology.  Rudolf Virchow was the first person to name diseases, such as thrombosis, leukemia, ochronosis, embolism, and chordoma.

 5 
Paul Ehrlich
(Scientist)
Paul Ehrlich
3
Birthdate: March 14, 1854
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Strzelin, Poland
Died: August 20, 1915

German scientist Paul Ehrlich is remembered for his contribution to immunology, which also won him a Nobel Prize. Known as the pioneer of chemotherapy, he also discovered the first-known treatment of syphilis. Born into a business family, he was introduced to the method of studying cells by his pathologist uncle.

 6 
Matthias Jakob Schleiden
(German Botanist & Co-founder of 'Cell Theory')
Matthias Jakob Schleiden
3
Birthdate: April 5, 1804
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Hamburg
Died: June 23, 1881

Matthias Jakob Schleiden was a German botanist who is credited with co-founding cell theory along with Rudolf Virchow and Theodor Schwann. He is also remembered for his service as a professor at the University of Dorpat from the mid 1860s.

 7 
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
(German Developmental Biologist and Winner of 1995 Nobel Prize in Medicine)
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
6
Birthdate: October 20, 1942
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Magdeburg, Germany

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard is a German developmental biologist. She studied at the University of Tübingen where she earned a Ph.D. for her research on protein–DNA interactions. Together with biologist Eric Wieschaus and geneticist Edward B. Lewis, she received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995. She is also a recipient of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. 

 8 
Friedrich Ratzel
(Biologist, Geopolitician, Geographer, Zoologist, Political scientist, University teacher)
Friedrich Ratzel
3
Birthdate: August 30, 1844
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Karlsruhe
Died: August 9, 1904

Friedrich Ratzel was a German ethnographer and geographer. He was the first person to use the term Lebensraum, which would later become an important and popular word among the National Socialists. Also an influential writer, Friedrich Ratzel's works served as a justification for imperial expansion. 

 9 
Max Delbrück
(Biophysicist)
Max Delbrück
2
Birthdate: September 4, 1906
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: March 9, 1981

Nobel Prize-winning biologist Max Delbrück is remembered for his pioneering research on bacteriophages, which are viruses that infect bacteria, as part of the Phage Group, along with Salvador Luria and Alfred Hershey. The German-born scientist was a Nazi refugee who later settled in the U.S.

 10 
Walther Flemming
(Biologist)
Walther Flemming
2
Birthdate: April 21, 1843
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Schwerin, Germany
Died: August 4, 1905
 11 
Harald zur Hausen
(Virologist)
Harald zur Hausen
2
Birthdate: March 11, 1936
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Gelsenkirchen
 12 
Rudolf Jaenisch
(A Pioneer of Transgenic Science)
Rudolf Jaenisch
0
Birthdate: April 22, 1942
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Wölfelsgrund, Germany

Rudolf Jaenisch is a German Professor of Biology currently working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. He is also one of the founding members of the prestigious Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, which aims at improving human health through biomedical research. A pioneer of transgenic science, Jaenisch has been creating genetically engineered mice to study neurological diseases and cancer.

 13 
Günter Blobel
(Biologist)
Günter Blobel
2
Birthdate: May 21, 1936
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Waltersdorf, Lower Silesia, Germany
Died: February 18, 2018
 14 
Hans Spemann
(German Embryologist And Winner of 1935 Nobel Prize In Physiology or Medicine)
Hans Spemann
2
Birthdate: June 27, 1869
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Stuttgart, Germany
Died: September 9, 1941
 15 
Theodor Boveri
(Biologist)
Theodor Boveri
1
Birthdate: October 12, 1862
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Bamberg, Germany
Died: October 15, 1915
 16 
Hans Driesch
(Biologist)
Hans Driesch
2
Birthdate: October 28, 1867
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Bad Kreuznach, Germany
Died: April 17, 1941
 17 
Lorenz Oken
(One of the Most Prominent German Natural Philosophers of the 19th Century)
Lorenz Oken
1
Birthdate: August 1, 1779
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Bohlsbach, Germany
Died: August 11, 1851

German naturalist and botanist Lorenz Oken is remembered as one of the most significant German natural philosophers of the 19th century and a leader of the Naturphilosophie movement. His studies on Wolfgang von Goethe’s theory on the vertebrate skull helped prepare ground for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

 18 
Georges J. F. Kohler
1
Birthdate: April 17, 1946
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Munich, Germany
Died: March 1, 1995
 19 
Edwin Klebs
(Pathologist)
Edwin Klebs
1
Birthdate: February 6, 1834
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Königsberg, Kingdom of Prussia
Died: October 23, 1913
 20 
Willi Hennig
(Biologist)
Willi Hennig
1
Birthdate: April 20, 1913
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Durrhennersdorf, Germany
Died: November 5, 1976
 21 
Oscar Hertwig
(Zoologist)
Oscar Hertwig
1
Birthdate: April 21, 1849
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Friedberg, Germany
Died: October 25, 1922
 22 
Max Schultze
(German Microscopic Anatomist Known for His Discovery of Protoplasm Theory)
Max Schultze
1
Birthdate: March 25, 1825
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Died: January 16, 1874

Max Schultze was a German microscopic anatomist best remembered for his work concerning cell theory. He is credited with coining many botanical names and the author abbreviation M.Schultze is generally used to indicate Max Schultze as the author when citing a named coined by him.

 23 
Otto Brunfels
(Theologian)
Otto Brunfels
1
Birthdate: 1488 AD
Birthplace: Mainz, Germany
Died: November 23, 1534
 24 
Karl Möbius
(Zoologist)
Karl Möbius
1
Birthdate: February 7, 1825
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Eilenburg, Germany
Died: April 26, 1908
 25 
Wilhelm Hofmeister
(Biologist)
Wilhelm Hofmeister
1
Birthdate: May 18, 1824
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Leipzig, Germany
Died: January 12, 1877
 26 
Vernon Ingram
(German-American Biologist)
Vernon Ingram
1
Birthdate: May 19, 1924
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Wrocław, Poland
Died: August 17, 2006

Vernon Ingram was a German-American professor who taught biology at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1956, Ingram worked alongside Antony O. W. Stretton and John A. Hunt and made significant discoveries in the field of biology. In 1967, Vernon Ingram was honored by the American Society of Human Genetics with the William Allan Award for his work.

 27 
Marguerite Vogt
(Virologist and Cancer Biologist Known for Her Research on Polio and Cancer)
Marguerite Vogt
0
Birthdate: February 13, 1913
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
Died: July 6, 2007

Marguerite Vogt was a German-born American virologist and cancer biologist. She is best remembered for her research on cancer and polio at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the USA. Apart from making immense contributions as a scientist in various fields, Marguerite Vogt also served as a mentor to many junior scientists, including several future Nobel laureates.

 28 
Martin Rathke
(University Professor)
Martin Rathke
0
Birthdate: August 25, 1793
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Gdańsk, Poland
Died: September 3, 1860
 29 
Wolfgang Ostwald
(Chemist)
Wolfgang Ostwald
0
Birthdate: May 27, 1883
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Riga, Latvia
Died: November 22, 1943
 30 
Moritz Schiff
(Physiologist)
Moritz Schiff
0
Birthdate: January 28, 1823
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Died: October 6, 1896