Franz Ferdinand Schulze (17 January 1815 – 14 April 1873) was a German professor of chemistry and microbiology who taught at the Royal Prussian State Agricultural Academy in Eldena and later at Rostock. He innovated analytical techniques, particularly making use of specially blown glass tubes. He examined questions such as spontaneous generation in his experiments. He was able to demonstrate that when air was bubbled through sulfuric acid, the resulting air did not produce any growth in carefully sterilized culture media. He translated J. F. W. Johnston's ''Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology'' (1841) into German. He coined the name of the wood component

lignin Lignin is a class of complex organic polymers that form key structural materials in the support tissues of most plants. Lignins are particularly important in the formation of cell walls, especially in wood and bark, because they lend rigidit ...

in 1857.

Life and work

Schulze was born in

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

, second son of a craftsman. An uncle took care of him from the age of ten, and he grew up in

Meissen Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...

where he went to school. He returned to Naumburg where he passed his

abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

in 1832 and then went to study in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. Here he took an interest in the natural sciences and listened to lectures in zoology at Berlin by

Hinrich Lichtenstein Martin H nrich Carl Lichtenstein (10 January 1780 – 2 September 1857) was a German physician, List of explorers, explorer, botanist and zoologist. He explored parts of southern Africa and collected natural history specimens extensively and ...

. He received a doctorate with a dissertation on "''De planariarum vivendi ratione et structura penitiore''" following which he worked in

Eilhard Mitscherlich Eilhard Mitscherlich (; 7 January 179428 August 1863) was a German chemist, who is perhaps best remembered today for his discovery of the phenomenon of crystallographic isomorphism in 1819. Early life and work Mitscherlich was born at Neuende ...

's laboratory. He became a teacher of chemistry at the newly founded Agricultural Academy in

Eldena Eldena is a municipality in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the ...

in 1835 and habilitated in 1837 at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; ), formerly known as Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Founded in 1456, it is one of th ...

. He wrote a textbook on agricultural chemistry and in 1850 he moved to Rostock as a full professor. He continued some of the agricultural chemistry investigations he had begun at Eldena and became more involved in the study of hygiene. After cholera struck Rostock in 1866, he conducted studies on airborne micro-organisms, noting their possible role in putrefaction. As early as 1836, he built glassware to bubble air through sulfuric acid to demonstrate that such treated air did not lead to growth on sterile and isolated media. This method was developed on by

Theodor Schwann Theodor Schwann (; 7 December 181011 January 1882) was a German physician and physiology, physiologist. His most significant contribution to biology is considered to be the extension of cell theory to animals. Other contributions include the d ...

John Tyndall John Tyndall (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was an Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the physical properties of air ...

and others in the early debates on

spontaneous generation Spontaneous generation is a superseded scientific theory that held that living creatures could arise from non-living matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular. It was hypothesized that certain forms, such as fleas, could ...

. Schulze married Charlotte, daughter of Sydow zu Charlottenburg, in Eldena in 1839 and they had two sons, the older

Franz Eilhard Schulze Franz Eilhard Schulze (22 March 1840 – 2 November 1921) was a German anatomist and zoologist born in Eldena, near Greifswald. Biography He studied at the Universities of Bonn and Rostock. In 1863, he received his doctorate from Rostock, wher ...

(the middle name from his godfather Mitscherlich) became a zoologist. After the death of Charlotte in 1850 he married Mathilde von Langermann in 1852. He died from pneumonia at Rostock.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulze, Franz Ferdinand 1815 births 1873 deaths German chemists Chemists from the Kingdom of Prussia