The legacy of Friedrich Loeffler--the Institute on the Isle of Riems.

Abstract

When starting the experiments on foot and mouth disease on the Isle of Riems in October 1910, Friedrich Loeffler could continue investigations that had been interrupted in 1907 by ministerial order. Loeffler's appointment to Berlin in 1913 and his sudden death in 1915 lead to the temporary cessation of work on the Riems. With high personal creativity and many years of seminal influence, Otto Waldmann carried Loeffler's ideas further, in the selection of themes and research strategy, making the Riems a world famous place of research. Some essential elements have determined life and research on the island for decades: the development of measures against epidemics, the conception of their application, the extension of research to new diseases of economic significance, the close contacts with the veterinary practice at all times, the presentation of results to experts and the stimulating discussions in the laboratory. I will try to briefly draw a bow covering the decades of different social conditions to the present and to suggest that Loeffler's ideas, which have been improved with the years, can affect many a current decision, even though differentiated individually.