Rudolf Epp (July 30, 1834 - August 8, 1910) was a German realist painter, associated with the Munich School. Rudolf Epp was born in 1834 in Eberbach am Neckar, the son of a decorative painter. After he had started drawing from his own initiative and was artistically active, he was first taught by the landscape painter Karl Ludwig Seeger. He then … [Read more...]

Johann Julius Hecker (December 2, 1707 – June 24, 1768) was a German educator who established the first Realschule and Prussia's first teacher-education institution. Hecker was born to a family of educators in Werden, then part of Prussia. As a young man, he formed an interest in theology and was drawn to pietism and the ideas of August Hermann … [Read more...]

Hans Spemann (born June 27, 1869, Stuttgart, Württemberg - died Sept. 12, 1941, Freiburg im Breisgau, Ger.), German embryologist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1935 for his discovery of the effect now known as embryonic induction, the influence exercised by various parts of the embryo that directs the development of … [Read more...]

Karl Freiherr von Drais (born on 29 April 1785 in Karlsruhe – died on 10 December 1851 in Karlsruhe as well) was a German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier period. Drais was a prolific inventor, who invented the Laufmaschine ("running machine"), also later called the Velocipede, Draisine (English) or draisienne (French), … [Read more...]

Carl von Linde was a German engineer (born on June 11, 1842 – died on November 16, 1934). Linde was best known for his refrigeration and gas separation technologies. Carl von Linde was the first person to extract oxygen gas from the air, making it a commercially viable product and thus launching the industrial gas industry. He also developed modern … [Read more...]

Franz Xaver Winterhalter (20 April 1805 – 8 July 1873) was a German artist best known for his airy, idealized portraits of European royalty that were influenced by the Rococo and Neoclassical painting. Born in a small village in Germany's Black Forest, Franz Xaver Winterhalter left his home to study painting at the academy in Munich. Before … [Read more...]

Caspar David Friedrich, (born on September 5, 1774, Greifswald, Pomerania [now in Germany] - died on May 7, 1840, Dresden, Saxony), was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. His vast, mysterious, atmospheric landscapes and seascapes proclaimed human helplessness … [Read more...]

Otto Hahn (1879-1968) was a German Chemist, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1944 – for his work in discovering nuclear fission. He was a distinguished chemist who worked in the pioneering fields of radio chemistry. After the Second World War, he was a campaigner against the use of nuclear weapons and became an influential … [Read more...]

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer), also known as Wanderer above the Mist or Mountaineer in a Misty Landscape, is an oil painting c. 1818 by the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich. It has been considered one of the masterpieces of Romanticism and one of its most representative works. It currently resides in … [Read more...]

Carl Spitzweg (born on February 5, 1808 – died on September 23, 1885) was a German romanticist painter, especially of genre subjects. He is considered to be one of the most important artists of the Biedermeier era. The Biedermeier period refers to an era in Central Europe between 1815 and 1848, during which the middle class grew in number and arts … [Read more...]