Editing Hermann von Helmholtz (section)

===Early years===

Helmholtz was born in [[Potsdam]], the son of the local [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]] headmaster, Ferdinand Helmholtz, who had studied [[classical philology]] and [[philosophy]], and who was a close friend of the publisher and philosopher [[Immanuel Hermann Fichte]]. Helmholtz's work was influenced by the philosophy of [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]] and [[Immanuel Kant]]. He tried to trace their theories in empirical matters like [[physiology]].

As a young man, Helmholtz was interested in natural science, but his father wanted him to study medicine. Helmholtz earned a [[medical doctorate]] at Medizinisch-chirurgisches Friedrich-Wilhelm-Institute in 1842 and served a one-year internship at the [[Charité]] hospital<ref>R. S. Turner, ''In the Eye's Mind: Vision and the Helmholtz-Hering Controversy'', Princeton University Press, 2014, p. 36.</ref> (because there was financial support for medical students).

Trained primarily in physiology, Helmholtz wrote on many other topics, ranging from theoretical physics to the [[age of the Earth]], and to the origin of the [[Solar System]].