Gottlieb Gluge

Gottlieb (Théophile) Gluge (18 June 1812, Brakel, Germany – 22 December 1898, Nice, France) pioneer medical researcher and personal physician to the King of the Belgians.

Two years before his graduation he wrote Die Influenza oder Grippe, nach den Quellen Historisch-Pathologisch Dargestellt (Minden, 1837), receiving for this essay a prize from the faculty of his alma mater.

In 1838, upon the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt and of Arago, he was appointed professor of physiology at the Free University of Brussels, and he held this position until 1873, being also for many years physician to the German-born Belgian monarch Leopold I.

He was a member of the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium, which till this day give a biannual prize in his honor, in the field of physiology.

Gluge was one of the first physicians who examined microscopically the diseased tissues of the body, in this way seeking to gain knowledge of the primary causes of maladies, and thus to ascertain the correct course of treatment.