1847
Max von Pettenkofer is appointed Professor and later sets up the first Institute of Hygiene in Germany at LMU.
Max von Pettenkofer | © Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München
Max von Pettenkofer (1818–1901) had worked in Justus von Liebig’s Chemistry Laboratory and elsewhere before assuming the newly created Chair of Medicinal Chemistry at LMU in 1847. During his term of office as Rector of the University (1864/65), he persuaded King Ludwig II to set up Chairs in Hygiene at all three Bavarian universities – in Munich, Würzburg and Erlangen. The first of these Institutes, the predecessor of today’s Max von Pettenkofer Institute, was built in the years 1876-1879 at LMU, and contributed significantly to the consolidation of the subject at university level. The city itself benefited directly, as it owes the provision of an urban sewerage system and water supply to Pettenkofer’s expertise. He finally agreed to retire in 1894, at the age of 76.
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