Jacob Moleschott

Jacob Moleschott (9 August 1822 – 20 May 1893) was a Dutch physiologist and writer on dietetics. He is known for his philosophical views in regard to scientific materialism. He was a member of German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (since 1884). Life Born in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Moleschott studied at Heidelberg University, where he obtained his PhD in 1845, and began the practice of medicine in Utrecht in 1845, but soon moved back to Heidelberg University, where he lectured on physiology starting in 1847. The university reprimanded Moleschott for various controversial statements made in his lectures, leading to his resignation in 1854. Next to Carl Vogt and Ludwig Büchner, Moleschott stood in the center of the public debates about materialism in Germany in the 1850s. He taught as a professor of physiology at Zürich (1856), at Turin (1861), and at Rome (1879), where he died. Writings Moleschott explained the origin and condition of animals by the working of physical causes. He was an atheist. His characteristic formulae were "no thought without phosphorus" and "the brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bile." His major works are: