Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg | |
|---|---|
Portrait by Eduard Radke, c. 1855 | |
| Born | 19 April 1795 |
| Died | 27 June 1876 (aged 81) Berlin, Germany |
| Education | University of Leipzig, University of Berlin |
| Known for | Symbolae physicae |
| Spouses | Julie Rose, Karoline Friederike Friccius |
| Children | Four surviving daughters by first wife: Helene (married Johannes von Hanstein), Mathilde (married Karl Friedrich August Rammelsberg), Laura and Clara Ehrenberg. One son by second wife: Hermann Alexander |
| Parent(s) | Johann Gottfried Ehrenberg and Christiane Dorothea Becker |
| Awards | Wollaston Medal (1839) Leeuwenhoek Medal (1877), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, foreign member of the Royal Society of London |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Naturalist |
| Institutions | University of Berlin |
| Notable students | Ferdinand Julius Cohn |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Ehrenb. |
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (19 April 1795 – 27 June 1876) was a German naturalist, zoologist, botanist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist. He was one of the most productive and renowned scientists of his time and a friend of the famous explorer Alexander von Humboldt. As a professor of medicine at the University of Berlin he was primarily interested in biology, naturalist studies and microscopy. His studies on micro-organisms led him to discover a number of protozoa, including the organisms giving the colour of the Red Sea, and he was among the first to suggest the separation of microscopic organisms into a grouping separate from the plants and animals. He wrote a major book on the life of microbes which included his own illustrations, 'Die Infusionsthierchen als vollkommene Organismen. Ein Blick in das tiefere organische Leben der Natur' ('The Microscopic Infusoria as Complete Organisms. An Examination of the Deeper Organic Life in Nature'). He was also a pioneer of micropaleontology.