Ernst Schweninger (1850-1924) was a German physician who developed the Schweninger method, a reduction of obesity by the restriction of fluids in the diet. He studied medicine at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich where he received his M.D. in 1870. His appointment to a chair at Berlin in 1884 against the wishes of the medical faculty was largely due to his successful treatment of Otto von Bismarck for obesity. His method was a modification of the method developed by William Banting. He retired to private life in 1905. He died in 1924 at the age of 73 or 74.