Editing Ferdinand Cohn

{{Short description|German biologist (1828–1898)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = 
| name              = Ferdinand Cohn
| honorific_suffix  = 
| native_name       = 
| native_name_lang  = 
| image             = Ferdinand Julius Cohn (cropped).jpg
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = Ferdinand Julius Cohn
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1828|01|24|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Wrocław|Breslau]], [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], [[Kingdom of Prussia]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1898|06|25|1828|01|24|df=y}}
| death_place       = Breslau, [[German Empire]]
| resting_place     = [[Old Jewish Cemetery, Wrocław|Breslau Jewish Cemetery]]{{r|JE}}
| fields            = Bacteriology, microbiology
| workplaces        = [[University of Wrocław|University of Breslau]]
| alma_mater        = [[Humboldt University of Berlin|University of Berlin]]
| known_for         = 
| awards            = {{unbulleted list|[[Leeuwenhoek Medal]] {{small|(1885)}}|[[Linnean Medal]] {{small|(1895)}}}}
| author_abbrev_bot = Cohn
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| spouse            = {{marriage|Pauline Reichenback|1867}}
| children          = 
| parents           =
| relatives         = {{unbulleted list
	| [[Oskar Justinus]] {{small|(brother)}}
	| {{ill|Max Conrat|de}} {{small|(brother)}}
	| {{ill|Hugo Conrat|qid=Q55837799}} {{small|(brother)}}
	| [[Ilse Twardowski-Conrat]] {{small|(niece)}}
	| [[Erica Tietze-Conrat]] {{small|(niece)}}
	}}
}}
'''Ferdinand Julius Cohn''' (24 January 1828 – 25 June 1898) was a German [[biologist]]. He is one of the founders of modern [[bacteriology]] and [[microbiology]].

==Biography==
Ferdinand Julius Cohn was born in the Jewish quarter of [[Wrocław|Breslau]] in the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] [[Province of Silesia]] (modern-day Wrocław, [[Poland]]).{{r|chung}}{{r|drews}} His father, Issak Cohn, was a successful merchant and manufacturer who for some time held the post of Austro-Hungarian consul.{{r|JE}} He was the elder brother of humorist and playwright [[Oskar Justinus|Oskar Justinus Cohn]] and of historian and jurist {{ill|Max Conrat|de}}.{{r|JE}}

He was considered a [[child prodigy]], and could read at the age of two. He also suffered hearing impairment from a young age. He entered the {{ill|Maria-Magdalenen-Gymnasium|de}} in 1835 at the age or 6 or 7, and the [[University of Breslau]] in 1842 or 1844.{{r|ewb}}{{r|drews}} There he studied botany under [[Heinrich Göppert]] and [[Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck|Christian Nees von Esenbeck]]. 

Cohn was refused admission to the University of Breslau's doctoral program because of his Jewish background.{{r|drews}} He thus continued his studies at the [[University of Berlin]], where he obtained a Ph.D. in 1847 with a dissertation on the [[Plant physiology|physiology]] of seeds. In it he advocated for the establishment of botanical gardens dedicated to the study of plant physiology, a vision that he later played a significant role in realizing. 

He returned to Breslau in 1848 and, after a delay due to his Jewish heritage, was appointed as a [[Privatdozent|privat-docent]] in 1850.{{r|JE}} He remained at that university for the rest of his career, obtaining the titled of professor in 1857 and, following the death of his mentor Göppert, was promoted to a full professorship in 1872.

==Work==
Cohn was a prolific writer, leaving behind over 150 papers, essays, and books.{{r|JE}}

In the 1850s he studied the growth and division of plant cells. In 1855 he produced papers on the sexuality of ''[[Sphaeroplea]] annulina'' and later ''[[Volvox globator]]''. In the 1860s he studied plant physiology in several different aspects. From 1870 onward he mostly studied bacteria. He established the use of sterile culture mediums and rediscovered the botanical garden of [[Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau]] in Breslau.

Cohn was the first to classify [[algae]] as [[plant]]s, and to define what distinguishes them from green plants. His classification of bacteria into four groups based on shape (sphericals, short rods, threads, and spirals) is still in use today. Among other things Cohn is remembered for being the first to show that ''[[Bacillus]]'' can change from a vegetative state to an [[endospore]] state when subjected to an environment deleterious to the vegetative state.

{{botanist|Cohn}}

==Awards==
Cohn was elected a member of numerous institutions and societies, including the Leopold Carolinische Akademie, [[Prussian Academy of Sciences|Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin]], [[Société de biologie|Société de biologie de France]], the [[Royal Microscopical Society|Royal Microscopic Society of Great Britain]], and the [[Boston Society of Natural History|Natural History Society of Boston]], among others.

He received the [[Leeuwenhoek Medal]] in 1885, and the [[Linnean Medal]] in 1895. For his efforts leading to the establishment of the Botanical Institute in Breslau in 1888, he received the title of ''[[Geheimrat|Geheimer Regierungsrat]]''. On the occasion of his seventieth birthday he was presented with the honorary [[Freedom of the City|freedom of the city]] of Breslau.{{r|JE}}

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=chung>{{cite web|last=Chung|first=King-Thom|url=http://www.pnf.org/compendium/Ferdinand_Julius_Cohn.pdf|title=Ferdinand Julius Cohn (1828–1898): Pioneer of Bacteriology|publisher=Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Sciences, The University of Memphis}}</ref>
<ref name=drews>{{cite journal |last=Drews|first=Gerhart |year=1999 |url=http://www.microbeworld.org/images/stories/history_pdfs/f3.pdf |title=Ferdinand Cohn, a founder of modern microbiology |journal=ASM News |volume=65 |issue=8 |pages=547–552 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713150622/http://www.microbeworld.org/images/stories/history_pdfs/f3.pdf |archive-date=13 July 2017}}</ref>
<ref name=JE>{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Cohn, Ferdinand Julius|url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4518-cohn-ferdinand-julius|first1=Isidore|last1=Singer|volume=4|page=157–158|no-prescript=1}}</ref>
<ref name=ewb>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Ferdinand Cohn|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of World Biography|date=2010|publisher=Gale|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329105706/http://biography.yourdictionary.com/ferdinand-cohn|archive-date=29 March 2013|url=http://biography.yourdictionary.com/ferdinand-cohn}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{wikisource author}}
{{commons category|Ferdinand Julius Cohn}}
* {{BHL author|1898}}
* {{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Cohn, Ferdinand Julius|url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4518-cohn-ferdinand-julius|first1=Isidore|last1=Singer|volume=4|page=157–158|no-prescript=1}} 

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohn, Ferdinand}}
[[Category:1828 births]]
[[Category:1898 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century German botanists]]
[[Category:Biologists from the Kingdom of Prussia]]
[[Category:19th-century German Jews]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Breslau]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:German microbiologists]]
[[Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni]]
[[Category:Jewish biologists]]
[[Category:Leeuwenhoek Medal winners]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Scientists from the Province of Silesia]]
[[Category:Scientists from Wrocław]]
[[Category:University of Breslau alumni]]