In this book, Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) is shown as a historical individual at the intersection of several perspectives: Firstly, it is about Virchow's life construction and lifestyle, secondly about his scientific and political career and the associated fields and structures of action, and thirdly about the interactions between his scientific and political ideas and the question of a “style of thinking” that unites both. Virchow shaped his time as a doctor, anthropologist and left-wing liberal politician. In his biography, Constantin Goschler paints a fascinating picture of Germany's scientific, social and political awakening into the modern age based on Virchow's. He shows him as an outstanding representative of a generation that shaped the rise of the scientific age and combined this with political and cultural optimism for progress and the will to shape. At the same time, Constantin Goschler makes the associated tension between Virchow's self-design and public role visible. This biography thus convincingly works out the meaning behind today's monumental Rudolf Virchow picture for its time and thus makes it comprehensible for our time.