Having held educational posts at Saarbriicken and Dusseldorf, in 1836 he became extraordinary professor of philosophy at Bonn, and in 1840 full professor.
Educated at Leipzig and Berlin, he became extraordinary professor in 1883 and ordinary professor in 1892 of Egyptology in the university of Berlin, and in 1885 he was appointed director of the Egyptian department of the royal museum.
These were so highly thought of that in 1909 he was appointed extraordinary professor of theoretical physics at the university of Zurich.
After studying medicine at Jena, he graduated doctor at Gottingen in 1775, and was appointed extraordinary professor of medicine in 1776 and ordinary professor in 1778.
Finding law as distasteful as theology, he devoted himself entirely to philosophy, of which he was appointed extraordinary professor in the university of Naples.
