by
Nancy Ryerson, Staff Writer | December 01, 2012
In the mid-19th century, the first laboratories of physiology were set up. No laboratory of physiology existed in the Netherlands in 1848, but by 1866 all Dutch universities had a department and laboratory building for physiology. The mid-19th century also saw the birth of scientific journals in Germany, which eventually spread to the rest of Europe and the United States. Previously, scientists had discussed findings via personal letters. German scientific journals helped expose the scientific community to Ludwig’s groundbreaking ideas.
In 1849 Ludwig became the professor of anatomy and physiology at Zurich, and six years afterwards he went to Vienna as professor in the Josephinum school for military surgeons. In 1865 Ludwig was appointed to the newly established chair of physiology at Leipzig. Under his tutelage, many of his students went on to make further discoveries in physiology. One of Ludwig’s first American students later helped found the American Physiological Society. When the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was opened in 1893, three of the four professors were pupils of Carl Ludwig: William H. Welch in pathology, Franklin P. Mall in anatomy, and John J. Abel in pharmacology. Ludwig continued his position at Leipzig until his death on April 23, 1895.
Ludwig often worked with his students to put together research papers, but rarely took credit for them, which could be one reason his name is not generally recognizable today, even in Germany. His name does live on at the Carl Ludwig Institute of Physiology at the University of Leipzig, which he founded in 1864, and since 1932, the German Society for Cardiology has awarded the Carl Ludwig Honorary Medal to outstanding cardiovascular researchers.
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