German pharmacist and botanist (1848-1924).
Ferdinand Paul Wirtgen (7 January 1848 in Koblenz – 26 January 1924 in Bonn) was a German pharmacist and botanist. He was the son of botanist Philipp Wilhelm Wirtgen (1806–1870). As a young man, he trained as a pharmacist in St. Johann an der Saar, followed by service in an army garrison hospital at Koblenz (1870–71). He then studied pharmacy in Bonn, and later spent two years as a pharmacist in the town of Ettenheim. In 1875, he returned to St. Johann, where he eventually took ownership of a pharmacy. From 1889 onward, he lived in Bonn, where focused his energies towards botanical research. H