On 6 June 1819 the later physiologist and histologist Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke was born.
From 1849 to 1890, Brücke taught as a professor at the University of Vienna and expanded the Physiological Institute into an international research center. In 1868/69 he was the first Protestant elected to the Dean of the Medical Faculty in the history of the University of Vienna. 1879/80 he served as the first non-Catholic as rector.
Brücke is one of the most important representatives of the Viennese Medical School of the 19th century and is regarded as the founder of the scientifically oriented Austrian physiological school. He was also the inventor of phonetic spelling and had with his research on perceptual physiology also great influence on Rudolf Eitelberger, founder of the Viennese School of art history.
