Friedrich August Flückiger

Friedrich August Flückiger (also spelled Flueckiger)[1] was a Swiss pharmacist, chemist and botanist. He was born in Langenthal, canton of Bern, on 15 May 1828 and died on 11 December 1894.

Friedrich August Flückiger (1828-1894)

Flückiger studied chemistry at the University of Berlin (1845–47), afterwards teaching pharmacy classes in Solothurn. In 1850 he studied botany at the University of Geneva, followed by studies at the University of Heidelberg. He was the author of the botanical name Boswellia sacra,[1][2] a tree native to Somalia, Oman, and Yemen[3] that is a major source of frankincense.

From 1853 to 1859, Flückiger was director of Grosse Apotheke, a pharmacy he owned in Burgdorf. In 1870 he became an associate professor of pharmacy and pharmacognosy at the University of Bern, and from 1873 to 1892 was a professor of pharmacy in Strassburg.

From 1857 to 1866 Flückiger was president of the Schweizerischen Apothekervereins (Swiss Pharmacists Association). During his career he obtained honorary doctorates from the Universities of Bologna and Erlangen.

Flückiger was the author of about 300 scientific works, and along with contributions made in chemistry and pharmacognosy, is remembered for his pioneer investigations in the field of pharmaceutical history. He is credited for providing important input to the second edition of the "Pharmacopoeia Helvetica" (1872).[4]

The Flückiger medal was created

The Flückiger medal was established at his retirement in 1892 by friends and admirers, who invested a fund intended to be used "for the advancement of pharmacy in its broadest sense". This fund is awarded every 5 years, alternatively by the German Association of pharmacists and its Swiss counterpart. The first three recipients were Edward Morell Holmes (1897), Schmidt (professor at the University of Marburg, 1902) and Édouard Heckel (1907).[5][6]