 Born in Leipzig and the son of Johann Friedrich Jakob Reichenbach (the author in 1818 of the first Greek-German dictionary) Reichenbach studied medicine and natural science at the University of Leipzig in 1810 and, eight years later in 1818, he the now Professor became an instructor before, in 1820, he was appointed the director of the Dresden natural history museum and a professor at the Surgical-Medical Academy in Dresden, where he remained for many years.Director of the natural history museum in Dresden, Professor Reichenbach was faced with an annoying yet seemingly unsolvable problem of showing invertebrate marine life.Land-based flora and fauna was not an issue, for it was a relatively simple matter to exhibit mounted and stuffed creatures such as gorillas and elephants, their lifelike poses attracting and exciting the museums' visitors.