Franz Penzoldt

Who was Franz Penzoldt?

Franz Penzoldt was a German internist and pharmacologist born in Crispendorf, Thuringia. He was the father of writer Ernst Penzoldt.

He studied medicine in Tübingen and Jena, where he was a student of Wilhelm Olivier Leube. From 1874 until his retirement in 1920, he worked at the University of Erlangen. In 1875 he obtained his habilitation at Erlangen, where he later became a professor of internal medicine and pharmacology. In 1903 he was appointed director of the medical clinic.

He was the author of the popular Lehrbuch der klinischen Arzneibehandlung für Studierende und Ärzte, which was published over numerous editions. With Roderich Stintzing, he published the Handbuch der gesamten Therapie and well as the Handbuch der speciellen Therapie innerer Krankheiten.

Today the "Franz-Penzoldt-Zentrum" at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg is named in his honor. This facility is the center for experimental medical research at the university.