Johann Carl Fuhlrott

Prof. Dr. Johann Carl Fuhlrott was born 31 December 1803 in Leinefelde, Germany, and died 17 October 1877 in Elberfeld, (Wuppertal). He is famous for recognizing the significance of the bones of Neanderthal 1, a Neanderthal specimen discovered by German laborers who were digging for limestone in Neander valley (Neanderthal in German) in August 1856. Originally disregarded, Fuhlrott, to his eternal credit, had the insight to recognize them for what they were: the remains of a previously unknown type of human. His parents were the innkeeper Johannes Philipp Fuhlrott and his wife Maria Magdalena, née Nussbaum. His parents had died by the time he was ten and he was raised by his uncle, the Catholic priest Carl Bernhard Fuhlrott in Seulingen. In 1835 he married Josepha Amalia Kellner (1812–1850), with whom he had six children.