BRESSLAU, ERNST

BRESSLAU, ERNST (1877–1935), German zoologist. After taking a medical degree, he studied zoology at the University of Strasbourg, where he subsequently became professor. His major research interests were the origin of the mammary glands and the biology of the turbellarians, a class of flatworms. When in 1918 Strasbourg became part of France, Bresslau went to Frankfurt as head of the zoology department of the Institute for Experimental Therapy founded by Paul Ehrlich. In 1926 he became professor of zoology at the University of Cologne, where he established and built up an outstanding research institute. Bresslau left Germany shortly after Hitler's accession to power and in 1934 became professor of zoology at the newly founded University of São Paulo, Brazil. He started to organize a zoological institute there but died before his task was completed. (Mordecai L. Gabriel)