Hermann von Helmholtz

(1821 - 1894)

From the 1850s to the 1890s, the Potsdam-born scientist Hermann von Helmholtz presented epoch-making discoveries in thermodynamics, physiology, metabolism, optics, and electrodynamics. “Whoever in the pursuit of science seeks after immediate practical utility,” he wrote in 1862, “may generally rest assured that he will seek in vain.” He died in 1894 in Berlin.