Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann

Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann (1843 in Leipzig – 1909) was a German botanist, physiologist, microbiologist, university professor, and musician whose 1882 experiment measured the effects of different colors of light on photosynthetic activity and showed that the conversion of light energy to chemical energy took place in the chloroplast. Englemann studied natural science and medicine first at the University of Jena, from 1861 to 1862, and later at the... more

Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann (1843 in Leipzig – 1909) was a German botanist, physiologist, microbiologist, university professor, and musician whose 1882 experiment measured the effects of different colors of light on photosynthetic activity and showed that the conversion of light energy to chemical energy took place in the chloroplast. Englemann studied natural science and medicine first at the University of Jena, from 1861 to 1862, and later at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Göttingen and the University of Leipzig. In 1867, he received a doctoral degree in medicine at Leipzig. He later taught physiology at the University of Utrecht, becoming a professor in 1888. In 1897, he began teaching physiology at the University of Berlin, where he also became the editor of the Archiv für Anatomie und Physiologie. He retired in 1908, but continued to serve as editor until his death. Engleman's major contribution to the field of physiology emerged from a study lasting from 1873 to... less