2022-02-01
Pettenkofer - The Father of Urban Hygiene
Munich owes its sewage system to him and the world owes modern scientific hygiene to him: Max von Pettenkofer prevailed against much resistance. He was a researcher and pharmacist, and when he was then able to prove in 1850 that cholera could be significantly contained by a functioning sewage system, he was allowed to build Munich's sewer system. To this day, around 230 kilometers of Munich's 2,500-kilometer sewer network still date from Pettenkofer's time.
Max von Pettenkofer (1818-1901) was a Bavarian scientist who studied the causes of cholera epidemics. His research and findings made him the internationally recognized founder of modern urban hygiene. With tireless commitment, he demanded a new water supply, the construction of a sewage system and the establishment of a new livestock and slaughterhouse in Munich: basic prerequisites for a generally healthy city life. Pettenkofer's concern was always for the health of his fellow citizens, and he was respected by rich and poor alike as an insightful advisor.
The new book "Meine Verehrung Exzellenz!" presents not only the highly decorated Munich researcher, but also the valuable human being Pettenkofer: His life began as the fifth of eight children of a poor peasant family near Neuburg on the Danube. In 2018, his 200th birthday was celebrated.
The book offers a profound insight into the private but also public life of the scientist. With documents and evidence carefully compiled from the archives, von Pettenkofer is portrayed both as a private person but also as an internationally recognized scientist. "Munich stories" and anecdotes round off the descriptions.
Read more here.
More about the book.