Max Josef von Pettenkofer was one of the leading personalities in the world of medicine in the 19th century. He was the founder of the modern science of hygiene. In his experimental work, he was involved in the research of problems dealing with the relationship between human beings and the environment, including such topics as soil and air pollution, water supply, sewage water management, room ventilation and heating, as well as the function of clothing and the cleanliness of homes and streets. Pettenkofer also studied the onset, the course, and the consequences of infectious diseases, such as cholera and typhus. He realised the great economic value of public health and emphasised that personal preventive measures should be supplemented with the improvement of factors in communal and work environments. His efforts lead to hygiene becoming a part of medical studies in 1865. The Institute for Hygiene at the School of Medicine in Munich was established in 1879. It was constructed according to his drawings and was considered to be the most modern institute for hygiene in the world. Since hygiene was a subject on the school curriculum in the German Empire in 1882, Pettenkofer became the Chairman of Hygiene in Berlin in 1885. Research institutions established by Pettenkofer and the fact that many of his students became professors of hygiene speak about the importance of his work. One of his students was professor Milan Jovanović Batut, founder of the Institute for Hygiene at the School of Medicine in Belgrade.