Friedrich Carl Adolf Neelsen (March 29, 1854,

Uetersen Uetersen (, formerly known as ''Ütersen ( Holstein)'') is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated approximately south of Elmshorn, and northwest of Hamburg at the small Pinnau River, close to the ...

– April 11, 1894,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

) was a German

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in t ...

Life

Friedrich C.A. Neelsen was born to Hans Friedrich Neelsen, deacon of the Uetersen vicarage, and his wife Bertha Sophia (née Lueders). He attended school in Uetersen and later in Altona. He studied medicine at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

, from which he received his doctorate at the age of 22. Later he became a professor at the Institute of Pathology of the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

. His final years were spent as chief of medicine at the famous pathological institute of the

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

. Neelsen died on April 11, 1894, aged 40, presumably due to pathogen exposure during his many years of bacteriological research. He was known in his time as a recluse who avoided public attention whenever possible, though he was active in the civic affairs of his hometown throughout his life.

Work

Together with microbiologist

Franz Ziehl Franz Ziehl (13 April 1857 in Wismar – 7 April 1926) was a German bacteriologist. He was a professor in Lübeck. Franz Ziehl introduced the carbol fuchsin stain for the tubercle bacillus in 1882. With pathologist Friedrich Neelsen (1854–1898 ...

, Neelsen developed the

Ziehl–Neelsen stain Ziehl–Neelsen staining is a type of acid-fast stain, first introduced by Paul Ehrlich. Ziehl–Neelsen staining is a bacteriological stain used to identify acid-fast organisms, mainly Mycobacteria. It is named for two German doctors who modi ...

, a method for the staining of

acid-fast Acid-fastness is a physical property of certain bacterial and eukaryotic cells, as well as some sub-cellular structures, specifically their resistance to decolorization by acids during laboratory staining procedures. Once stained as part of a sam ...

bacteria, used to this day in the diagnosis of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

and to detect the presence of other mycobacteria.

Sources

*''Uetersener Nachrichten'' (newspaper) (2005) (de) {{DEFAULTSORT:Neelsen, Friedrich 1854 births 1894 deaths German microbiologists People from Uetersen