Ferdinand Cohn

Ferdinand Cohn (born January 24, 1828, Breslau, Silesia, Prussia [now Wrocław, Poland]—died June 25, 1898, Breslau) was a German naturalist and botanist known for his studies of algae, bacteria, and fungi. He is considered one of the founders of bacteriology. Cohn was born in the ghetto of Breslau, the first of three sons of a Jewish merchant. His father spared no effort in the education of his precocious oldest child, and Ferdinand retained a melancholy...