Considered to be the father of modern bacteriology, Ferdinand Cohn (1828-1898) began his studies as a botanist and ultimately made discoveries which led to the creation of a new field of study. He was the first scientist who believed that bacteria should be classified as plants. His contributions include a system of classification and the discovery of spores, with its implication for spontaneous generation. His journal, Beitrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen, contained the first essays on modern bacteriology.

Ferdinand Julius Cohn was born in the German Jewish ghetto of Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland), on January 24, l828. His father, Issak Cohn, became a successful merchant and was able to support his son's intellectual talents. A child prodigy, Cohn could read at the age of two, began school at four, and entered the Breslau Gymnasium (high school) in 1835. A hearing defect slowed his progress in school and contributed to...