The Legacy of Friedrich Loeffler reflections of an original researcher on the Isle of Riems

Friedrich Loeffler began experimental studies on foot and mouth disease, on the Isle of Riems, in October 1910. They were interrupted in 1907 on the o rder of the Minister The appointment of Loeffler to a post in Berlin in 191 3 followed by his sudden death in 1915 lend to the temporary cessation of w ork at the Riems laboratory. Otto Waldmann, using his individual creativity , influenced by past research at Riems, progressed Loeffler's ideas and hyp otheses resulting in the laboratory being acknowledged world ide for its re search on FMD. The re-alignment of research, during the 1980s, to the more applied aspects, resulted in deficiencies in basic research which produced gaps in the provision of advice to evaluate central policies based an a sou nd epidemiological and aetiological under standing. Following the evaluatio n by the German Scientific Council in 1991, the Riems laboratory became par t of the Federal Research Institutes. The production unit Mas privatised Lo effler's fundamental philosophy to investigate viral infections of animals has always been part of the objective of the Riems laboratory. A synthesis of the changes in the social and political climate over the last eight deca des until the present and their effects on research are described indicatin g that Loeffler's ideas, which have been improved upon, have affected curre nt decisions.