beginning of a draft of more adequate version of hoffmann article Early life and education Hoffmann was born in Frankfurt to an architect father Philipp Hoffmann who was responsible for the city s streets and waterways Hoffmann s mother died when he was a baby His father later married her sister Antoinette Lausberg who was a loving and more than adequate mother to him Lazy and easily distracted Hoffmann at first struggled at school especially in mathematics but became a successful student after conforming to the strict working discipline imposed by his demanding father At university in Heidelberg he immersed himself into the corps student culture aptly portrayed by Mark Twain in his His zest for dueling was small but owing to his sociability good humour and wit he soon became the center of many social circles a pattern that would later repeat itself in his hometown His progress in his medical studies was slow because of the many distractions After fatherly reproaches he left Heidelberg for Halle where he concentrated on his studies under Professor Peter Krukenberg the founder of a charity clinic His first brush with medical practice coincided with a cholera outbreak in Halle After getting his medical degree he intended to spend a year in Paris funded by the Frankfirt Bethmann bank to improve his knowledge of surgery But due to the deteriorating health of his father he had to return home early