Friedrich Carl Adolf Neelsen (March 29, 1854,

Uetersen Uetersen (, formerly known as ''Ütersen (Holstein)'') is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately south of Elmshorn, and northwest of Hamburg at the small Pinnau River, close to the El ...

– April 11, 1894,

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

) was a German

pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...

Life

Friedrich C.A. Neelsen was born to Hans Friedrich Neelsen, deacon of the Uetersen vicarage, and his wife Bertha Sophia (née Lueders). He attended school in Uetersen and later in Altona. He studied medicine at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, from which he received his doctorate at the age of 22. Later he became a professor at the Institute of Pathology of the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock () is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Se ...

. His final years were spent as chief of medicine at the famous pathological institute of the

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for , abbreviated as TUD), also as the Dresden University of Technology, is a public research university in Dresden, Germany. It is the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, the largest university in Saxony a ...

. Neelsen died on April 11, 1894, aged 40, presumably due to pathogen exposure during his many years of bacteriological research. He was known in his time as a recluse who avoided public attention whenever possible, though he was active in the civic affairs of his hometown throughout his life.

Work

Together with microbiologist Franz Ziehl, Neelsen developed the

Ziehl–Neelsen stain The Ziehl-Neelsen stain, also known as the acid-fast stain, is a bacteriological staining technique used in cytopathology and microbiology to identify acid-fast bacteria under microscopy, particularly members of the ''Mycobacterium'' genus. This ...

, a method for the staining of

acid-fast Acid-fastness is a physical property of certain bacterial and eukaryotic cells, as well as some sub-cellular structures, specifically their resistance to decolorization by acids during laboratory staining procedures. Once stained as part of a sa ...

bacteria, used to this day in the diagnosis of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

and to detect the presence of other

mycobacteria ''Mycobacterium'' is a genus of over 190 species in the phylum Actinomycetota, assigned its own family, Mycobacteriaceae. This genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis ('' M. tuberculosis'') a ...

Sources

*''Uetersener Nachrichten'' (newspaper) (2005) (de) {{DEFAULTSORT:Neelsen, Friedrich 1854 births 1894 deaths German microbiologists People from Uetersen