Professor Dr. Irmgard Müller passed away unexpectedly at her home in Witten on April 9, 2025. With her passing, the history of medicine has lost an outstanding personality. From 1985 to 2005, she was Director of the Institute for the History of Medicine at Ruhr University Bochum. She had been a member of the Leopoldina since 1995.
Born on May 13, 1938, she first studied pharmacy, then history and philosophy as well as the history of medicine and pharmacy at the universities of Freiburg, Bonn and Düsseldorf. Her research interests included the history of the organization of science, the representation of knowledge, the interrelationship between medicine and technology, the history of pharmacy and the early modern history of medicine and the natural sciences. She was passionate about the history of biology and in particular the history of the Naples Zoological Station. She also had a passion for medical history museology and was highly committed to building up and expanding the medical history collection at the Ruhr University Bochum.
She was a meticulously working, very precise scientist, who was always distinguished and quiet, but at the same time determined and clear in her claims and statements with a sharp mind. We held her in high esteem as an academic teacher, researcher, collector and exhibition organizer and are deeply saddened by her sudden death.
A detailed obituary will follow.