He received his education at the University of Tübingen, obtaining his doctorate in 1812.
Afterwards, he worked as a prosector at the Academy of Bern, where in 1815 he was named a professor of anatomy and physiology.
Among his better known students at Bonn were Johannes Peter Müller and Theodor Ludwig Wilhelm von Bischoff.
[1] His name is associated with a female reproductive disorder known today as Mayer–Rokitansky–Küster–Hauser syndrome (MRKH); named in conjunction with Carl von Rokitansky, Hermann Küster and Georges André Hauser.
[2] He was the author of around 145 published works, many of them written from the viewpoint of natural philosophy.