Bernhard Fischer

Johann Friedrich Bernhard Fischer was a German bacteriologist, born in Coburg in 1852, who became widely known for a system of classifying bacteria. After schooling at the Casimirianum he studied at the University of Berlin and took his medical degree in 1875. He then travelled to Egypt and India as a member of the German Cholera Commission, and in 1889 joined the Plankton Expedition. About ten years later he became a professor at the University of Kiel, where he also led the Institute of Hygiene. His book on the structure and functions of bacteria, issued in a second edition in 1900, served as the standard work in its field. Fischer also wrote practical texts for the pharmacy trade, among them a handbook of newer medicines for pharmacists, physicians and druggists and a chemistry textbook for pharmaceutical students. He died at Dadizele in 1915.