Otto Funke (October 27, 1828 – August 17, 1879) was a German physiologist born in Chemnitz.
He studied in Leipzig and Heidelberg, and in 1852, he became a lecturer of physiology at the University of Leipzig. In 1853, he became an associate professor to the medical faculty at Leipzig, and in 1860, a professor of physiology at the University of Freiburg.[1] One of his better known students at Leipzig was the physiologist Karl Ewald Konstantin Hering (1834–1918).
In 1851, Otto Funke was the first scientist to successfully crystallize hemoglobin (German: Hämoglobinkristalle), which he first called Blutfarbstoff. This work was a precursor to Felix Hoppe-Seyler's important studies of hemoglobin. Funke also performed research of blood formation in the spleen, and investigations into the effects of curare.
