DIESTERWEG, FRIEDRICH ADOLF WILHELM (179o-1866), German educationist, was born at Siegen on Oct. 29, 1790. Educated at Herborn and Tubingen universities, he began teaching in 1811. In 182o he was appointed director of the teachers' seminary at Mors, where he put in practice the methods of Pestalozzi. In 1832 he became director of the new state-schools seminary in Berlin. In 1846 he established the Pestalozzi institu tion at Pankow, and the Pestalozzi societies for the support of teachers' widows and orphans. In 1858 he was elected to the chamber of deputies as member for Berlin, and voted with the Liberal opposition. He died in Berlin on July 7, 1866. Diesterweg wrote several text-books and educational works, including IVeg weiser f. deutsche Lehrer (1834) , and in 1827 established Rhein ische Blotter f. Erziehung u. Unterricht.
See W. Kreitz, Diesterweg u. die Lehrerbildung (189o) and K. Richter, Diesterweg nach seinem Leben and Wirken (189o) .