1821-1894

German Physicist, Philosopher and Physiologist

Hermann von Helmholtz's scientific career marked him as one of the foremost scientific minds of the nineteenth century. His landmark theories and ideas encompassed electrodynamics, fluid and thermo dynamics, mathematics, optics, and physiology.

Though interested in many aspects of knowledge in his youth, Helmholtz was not distinguished by any early scientific gifts. He leaned toward physics in his university years but began his scientific work in the field of medicine with medical school in Berlin in 1838. Lectures included attendance at the University of Berlin, where he found mentors in J. P. Müller in physiology and H. G. Magnus in physics. Helmholtz's medical thesis (1842) on the relation of animal nerve fibers and cells and heat led to his interest in the theory of the conservation of energy. Thus, early on this personal research netted...