Having graduated in 1856, he studied under various famous physiologists, including Emil du Bois-Reymond at Berlin, Claude Bernard in Paris, and KFW Ludwig and EW von Brücke in Vienna.

[4] At the end of 1863 he was put in charge of the chemical department of the pathological laboratory at Berlin, under Rudolf Virchow; in 1868 he was appointed professor of physiology at Amsterdam; and in 1871 he was chosen to succeed Hermann von Helmholtz in the same capacity at Heidelberg, where he died on 10 June 1900.

[4] Kühne's original work falls into two main groups, the physiology of muscle, and nerve, which occupied the earlier years of his life.

[citation needed] José Rizal (1861–1896), martyr and national hero of the Philippines, learned physiology under Kühne at the Heidelberg University in 1886.

[citation needed] Ida Henrietta Hyde (1857–1945) wanted to study physiology under Kühne at the University of Heidelberg on the recommendation of Professor Alexander Goette at Strasbourg.