Ferdinand Julius Cohn was born in the Jewish quarter of Breslau in the Prussian Province of Silesia (modern-day Wrocław, Poland).

[1] He was the elder brother of humorist and playwright Oskar Justinus Cohn and of historian and jurist Max Conrat [de].

In it he advocated for the establishment of botanical gardens dedicated to the study of plant physiology, a vision that he later played a significant role in realizing.

[1] He remained at that university for the rest of his career, obtaining the titled of professor in 1857 and, following the death of his mentor Göppert, was promoted to a full professorship in 1872.

He established the use of sterile culture mediums and rediscovered the botanical garden of Lorenz Scholz von Rosenau in Breslau.