Friedrich Tiedemann 1781 - 1861

Friedrich Tiedemann 1781 - 1861 was a German anatomist and physiologist.

Tiedmann conducted studies into the effects of sugar, feeding animals an exclusive diet of sugar, effectively a proving of sugar. The Hahnemannian monthly, Volume 4 applauded his work in this area, noting how an exclusive sugar diet caused ulceration of the cornea of the eye,

Tiedmann was a colleague of Charles Darwin, an abolitionist after Charles Darwin’s own heart, and challenging the racial theories creeping into phrenology at this time,

Tiedmann was an advocate of Georges Cuvier, a contemporary of Samuel Hahnemann in Paris,

Friedrich Tiedmann was born at Cassel, the eldest son of Dietrich Tiedemann, a philosopher and psychologist of considerable repute.

He graduated in medicine at Marburg in 1804, but soon abandoned practice. He devoted himself to the study of natural science, and, moving to Paris, became an ardent follower of Georges Cuvier.

On his return to Germany he maintained the claims of patient and sober anatomical research against the prevalent speculations of the school of Lorenz Oken, whose foremost antagonist he was long reckoned.

His remarkable studies of the development of the human brain, as correlated with his father’s studies on the development of intelligence, deserve mention. He spent most of his life as professor of anatomy and physiology at Heidelberg, a position to which he was appointed in 1816, after having filled the chair of anatomy and zoology for ten years at Landshut, and died at Munich.

He was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1827.

Two of his sons, Gustav and Heinrich, were casualties of the 1848 uprisings.