Johannes Ranke

As a student, his influences included pathologist Rudolf Virchow and chemist Justus von Liebig.

In 1863 he obtained his habilitation with the thesis, Galvanischen Leitungswiderstand des lebenden Muskels, and spent the following years conducting physiological studies on tetanus and human nutrition.

In 1868 he published a textbook on human physiology, titled Grundzüge der Physiologie des Menschen.

He made numerous contributions in his research of the physical anthropology associated with prehistoric Bavaria, being especially interested in studies of human skull forms.

From his anthropological research, he was opposed to the racial ideology theories espoused by Arthur de Gobineau and Houston Stewart Chamberlain.