Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger

Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm Pflüger (June 7, 1829 - March 16, 1910) was a German physiologist born in Hanau. He studied medicine at the universities of Giessen and Berlin. While in Berlin he was an assistant to Johannes Peter Müller (1801-1858) and Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818-1896). In 1859 he became professor of physiology at the University of Bonn where he remained for the rest of his career. Among his students in Bonn were physiologist Nathan Zuntz (1847-1920) and chemist Hugo Paul Friedrich Schulz (1853-1932).

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Pflüger made contributions in all aspects of physiology, including embryological physiology, respiratory physiology, sensory physiology and electrophysiology. The eponymous Pflüger's law (Pflüger's Zuckungsgesetz) is the result of his research on electrical stimulation and its correlation to muscular contraction. In 1868 he founded Archiv für die gesammte Physiologie (Pflüger's Archiv European Journal of Physiology) which became the most influential journal of physiology in Germany.

Pflüger is probably best known for his research with Karl Ludwig in the early 1870s regarding the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in respiration. He was able to prove that oxidation occurs in the peripheral tissues rather than in the blood, and that the blood was only responsible for transporting the respiratory gases.