Born 24 Jan 1828; died 25 Jun 1898 at age 70.

Ferdinand (Julius) Cohn was a German #naturalist and #botanist who is considered one of the founders of #bacteriology and known for his studies of #algae, #bacteria, and #fungi, #insect #epidemics and #plant #diseases. From his early studies of microscopic life he developed theories of the bacterial causes of infectious disease and recognized bacteria as plants. He showed that the #protoplasm was almost identical in plant and animal cells. He founded the science of bacteriology with a three volume treatise published in 1872 which classified bacteria into genera and species. Cohn gave Robert Koch a position in his lab and aided him in preparing Koch's famous work on #anthrax.