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 19 13 followed by his sudden death in 1915 lead to the temporary cessation of work at the Riems laboratory. Otto Waldmann, using his individual creativit y, influenced by past research at Riems, progressed Loeffler's ideas and hy potheses resulting in the laboratory being acknowledged world-wide for its research on FMD. The re-alignment of research, during the 1980s, to the mor e applied aspects, results in deficiencies in basic research which produced gaps in the provision of advice to evaluate control policies based on a so und epidemiological and aetiological understanding. 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 was privatised. L oeffler'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 dec ades until the present and their effects on research are described indicati ng that Loeffler's ideas, which have been improved upon, have affected curr ent decisions.