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History

The history of the Institute of Physiology at Leipzig University is closely linked to its architect and builder, Carl Ludwig, who gave it its name.​

History of the Institute of Physiology

The Institute of Physiology at the University of Leipzig owes its existence to a decision in science policy. A new era of scientific and medical education had begun in Saxony in 1853 with the appointment  of Johann Paul von Falkenstein (1801 - 1882) as Minister of Culture. Falkenstein was a representative of the politics of bureaucratic liberalism. After the revolution of 1848, Saxony was faced with the task of increasing its agricultural production in order to pre vent famine. In addition to industrialization, chemistry was to be harnessed to meet the needs of agricul ture. This program, which Justus Liebig had been vigorously promoting since 1840, benefited not only chemistry, but also phys ics and physiology. On the other hand, Falkenstein wanted to halt the decline in enrolments at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leipzig.

He therefore endeavored to reform medicine. In view of the scarce resources for teaching, he wanted to develop first-class expertise in a few selected areas. On the other hand, new appointments were to cover a wide range of needs. In a memorandum in December 1864 , Falkenstein d eveloped the plan that physiology should be separated from anatomy and that a new institute should be created.  This policy was entirely in line wit h King John of Saxony (1801-1873), who was a great patron of science and the arts.

Falkenstein suggested that Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795-1878), who had held the chair of anatomy since 1821 and that of physiology since 1840, should restrict himself to anatomy and that a first-class man should be recruited for physiology. The person who, in his eyes, best fulfilled the requirements was Carl Ludwig. Ludwig represented the sought-after overarching methodological approach and was determined to put physiology at the service of medicine. 

Carl Ludwig was appointed to Leipzig on May 1, 1865 and was able to open the new Physiological Institute, which had been built according to his plans, with a ceremonial address on April 26, 1869. This Institute was located in Waisenhausstraße, today's Liebigstraße, diagonally opposite the Anatomical Institute. At the time of its construction, this institute was unique in Europe and served as a model for many other laboratories in Germany and abroad.

Carl Ludwig's successor, Ewald Hering, who took over the management of the institute in 1895, applied for the construction of a larger lecture hall and several demonstration rooms. This extension was approved. It was built in the southern wing and extended to the boundary between the Physiological Institute and the grounds of the o​​phthalmology institute. In addition, the site on which the Institute stood was extended by purchasing the adjoining plot of land.

On 4 December 1943, the institute burned down after a bombing raid. The value of the destroyed library was estimated at 500,000 RM, the value of the inventory and equipment was estimated at 1.5 million RM. On 6 April 1945, the institute was so completely destroyed by another heavy bombing raid that the ruins had to be levelled. After the war, the institute was housed on one floor of the Medical-Policlinical Institute at Härtelstraße 16/18.

In the period from 1955-1961, a new building for the Institute of Physiology was constructed at the end of Liebigstraße. Erich Bauereisen, who was director from 1952-1959, played a key role in this planning. The lecture theatre wing was the first part of the institute to be put into operation. The large lecture theatre seats around 525 students. The small lecture theatre, which is located above the large one, can accommodate 150 people. Overall, the new institute is characterised by its solid and spacious design. The practical room s are located in one wing and are thus separated from the research laboratories. These are located in the west wing. The Physiological Institute was named after Carl Ludwig during Hans Drischel's term of office (1959-1980) at his intensive instigation. ​

Carl Ludwig

Carl Ludwig was not only the architect and builder of the Physiological Institute, but also the dominant personality among physiologists in Leipzig. He also played a dominant role in German physiology in the 19th century, which was recognised worldwide. He was born in Witzenhausen on 29 December 1816. After attending school in Witzenhausen and Hanau, he studied medicine in Marburg from 1834. He obtained his doctorate in 1840 with a thesis on the effect of liver trans. Until 1841, Ludwig worked in the laboratory of Robert Bunsen, who later played an important role at the University of Heidelberg. Through Ludwig Fick, Adolf Fick's older brother, he was offered a position as 2nd prosector at the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Marburg.​​​​

After Ludwig Fick took over this institute, he became 1st prosector and in 1846 associate professor of comparative anatomy. His habilitation thesis on the course of the blood vessels in the kidney had already been published in 1842. In this work, he was the first to correctly recognise and describe the function of the glomeruli. In this year, Ludwig also began his circulatory physiological experiments and worked methodically on the measurement of blood pressure. In 1846 he invented the kymographion. 

This invention made Ludwig famous in wide scientific circles. In spring 1847, he visited Johannes Müller in Berlin and met his students Hermann Helmholtz, Ernst Brücke, Emil Du Bois-Reymond and Rudolf Virchow. He also visited Volkmann in Halle and Fechner and the Weber brothers in Leipzig.
1849 erhielt er einen Ruf auf den Lehrstuhl für Anatomie und Physiologie an der Universität Zürich. 1855 wurde er als Professor der Physiologie und Zoologie an die Medizinisch-Chirurgische Militärakademie (Josephinum) in Wien berufen. In Wien war Ernst Brücke seit 1849 am Physiologischen Institut der Universität tätig.​ During his 10 years at the "Josephinum", Carl Ludwig invented the blood gas pump, clarified the basic processes involved in the exchange of respiratory gases, researched lymph formation and movement and discovered the medullary vasomotor centre. He already had many foreign students at this time, esp​ecially from Russia.

​In 1865 he accepted an appointment at the University of Leipzig. He worked there for 30 years, until his death in 1895. In Leipzig, Carl Ludwig continued his work on circulatory regulation and respiratory gas transport. For the first time, physiology was systematically pursued at the level of isolated organs. The first isolated frog heart was developed in 1866. The liver, kidney, muscle and lungs were also isolated and perfused. A method for measuring blood flow using the "Stromuhr" was also developed.

Ludwig's colleagues came from all over the world. It is estimated that Carl Ludwig had around 250 to 300 pupils. As an academic teacher, Carl Ludwig fully met the expectations that Minister of Culture Falkenstein had placed in him. The number of enrolled students in Leipzig rose steadily. In 1868, Leipzig left Munich behind, and in the years 1872 to 1878, Leipzig even surpassed Berlin in this respect. Foreigners who wanted to study in Germany favou​red Leipzig as their place of study. The medical faculty at Leipzig University included many outstanding men such as Ernst Heinrich Weber, Gustav Theodor Fechner, Wilhelm​ Wundt and Carl August Wunderlich, who developed the programme of "physiological medicine". Carl Ludwig died on 23 April 1895 at the age of 79 as a result of bronchitis.​​​
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What was special about Carl Ludwig was that he consistently pursued a completely new direction in physiology and was its representative. However, he was not alone in this; it was a small group of young, highly talented, dynamic physiologists of about the same age who had taken up arms against natural philosophy and vitalism, i.e. the life force as the determining factor in physiology. These young physiologists had "conspired to assert the truth that no other forces are at work in the organism than the common physical-chemical ones". They called themselves "organic phy​sicists". Carl Ludwig was the oldest of them. He was the recognised "standard-bearer of the school". He wrote a textbook on physiology as a progra​mme for this new direction and dedicated it to his friends. Emil Du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896) was the second oldest of these. He was the great rhetorician and science politician with excellent connections to the scientific and political establishment in ​Berlin. Ernst Brücke (1819-1892) was the critically distanced one and was also concerned with physiological problems in the visual arts, painting and poetry.​​


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