Editing Ewald Hering (section)

==The Hering-Helmholtz controversy==

Hering spent most of his life arguing violently with Helmholtz. The controversy was not only scientific but also philosophical; Hering was a nativist, Helmholtz an empiricist. Helmholtz also came from a higher social class and was always considered a prodigy, whereas Hering had to go through a harder time in his early career. Hering and Helmholtz disagreed on almost everything and the controversy lasted long after the end of both of their lives. Hering however was by far the more aggressive of the two, and was always prompt to point out any mistake that Helmholtz might have made, sometimes even going so far as to insult him ("It is likely that the great Helmholtz in his dozing state..."). Helmholtz's faction (though probably not Helmholtz himself) spread rumors which accorded to Hering the need for help to do his mathematical work and that he was clinically insane ("He has been, as I have heard, mentally ill").<ref name="Turner, R. M.-1994"/>