Conrad Gessner
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Conrad Gessner (26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him through university, where he studied classical languages, theology and medicine. He became Zürich's city physician, but was able to spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography (Bibliotheca universalis 1545–1549) and zoology (Historia animalium 1551–1558) and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from plague at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. He was frequently the first to describe species of plants or animals in Europe, such as the tulip in 1559. A number of plants and animals have been named after him.
Works
- 1537 Greek-Latin Dictionary
- 1541 Enchiridion historiae plantarum
- 1542 Catalogus plantarum (1542)
- 1545 Bibliotheca universalis (ed. J. Simler 1574)
- 1545 Libellus de lacte et operibus lactariis
- 1548 Pandectarum sive partitionum universalium libri xxi
- 1551–1558 Historiae animalium
- 1551 Quadrupedes vivipares
- 1554 Quadrupedes ovipares
- 1555 Avium natura
- 1558 Piscium & aquatilium animantium natura
- 1552 Thesaurus Euonymi Philiatri
- 1553 Corpus Venetum de Balneis
- 1555 Mithridates de differentis linguis
- Historia Plantarum (ed. 1750 )
- Der ... Theil des köstlichen und theuren Schatzes Euonymi Philiatri . Band 2 . Geßner, Zürich / Straub, S. Gallen 1583 Digital edition by the University and State Library Düsseldorf
See also
- Bloodhound and Rache for other pictures from Gessner's work