 In the Winter Semester 1823–24, at the tender age of twenty-two, Fechner began his academic career by lecturing on physiology for the faculty of medicine. After the death of Ludwig Gilbert (1769–1824), the Leipzig professor of physics, in 1824, Fechner served as his temporary substitute. Because he was still so young, the position could not be made permanent. It was only in 1834 that Fechner finally became professor of physics in Leipzig. 