Born as Lorenz Okenfuss on his father's farm near Bohlsbach bei Offenburg, Germany, Lorenz Oken shortened his rustic-sounding surname to prevent ridicule. Oken studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, but transferred to the University of Göttingen, where he took his medical degree in 1805. Oken taught medicine at Göttingen from 1805 to 1807 and at the University of Jena from 1807 to 1819.

While at Jena, Oken developed and correlated his interests in natural science and romantic philosophy. As he began to publish these ideas, Oken became a popular and controversial figure throughout the German-speaking world. In 1816, he founded the periodical Isis to showcase his views on science, philosophy, politics, and culture. Suppressed several times, it finally ceased during the 1848 Revolutions. Oken was an early supporter of nationalist student movements and other anti-conservative causes. Because he played an active part in the notorious Wartburgfest of October 1817, Isis was...