Otto Funke (October 27, 1828 – August 17, 1879) was a German physiologist born in Chemnitz. He studied in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, and in 1852, he became a lecturer of physiology 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 ...

. In 1853, he became an associate professor to the medical faculty at Leipzig, and in 1860, a professor of physiology at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public research university located in Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemb ...

.Catalogus Professorum lipsiensium
Biographical sketch One of his better known students at Leipzig was the physiologist Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering (1834–1918). In 1851, Otto Funke was the first scientist to successfully crystallize

hemoglobin Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocyt ...

(german: Hämoglobinkristalle), which he first called ''Blutfarbstoff''. This work was a precursor to

Felix Hoppe-Seyler Ernst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler (''né'' Felix Hoppe; 26 December 1825 – 10 August 1895) was a German physiologist and chemist, and the principal founder of the disciplines of biochemistry and molecular biology. Biography Hoppe-Seyler was b ...

's important studies of hemoglobin. Funke also performed research of blood formation in the

spleen The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes .

, and investigations into the effects of

curare Curare ( /kʊˈrɑːri/ or /kjʊˈrɑːri/; ''koo-rah-ree'' or ''kyoo-rah-ree'') is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South ...

Selected publications

* ''Lehrbuch der Physiologie'' (7. Aufl. von Grünhagen, Hamburg 1884) * ''Atlas der physiologischen Chemie'' (Leipzig 1853, 2. Aufl. 1858), Supplement to Carl Lehmann's ''Lehrbuch der physiologischen Chemie'' * ''Kapitel über den Tastsinn und die Gemeingefühle''. In:

Ludimar Hermann Ludimar Hermann (October 31, 1838 – June 5, 1914) was a German physiologist and speech scientist who used the Edison phonograph to test theories of vowel production, particularly those of Robert Willis and Charles Wheatstone. He coined the ...

's ''Handbuch der Physiologie'' (Bd. 3, Leipzig 1880)

References

A NASA Recipe For Protein Crystallography
* Parts of the article are based on an equivalent article at the German Wikipedia. 1828 births 1879 deaths People from Chemnitz German physiologists Academic staff of the University of Freiburg Academic staff of Leipzig University {{Germany-scientist-stub