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Conrad Gessner (; la, Conradus Gesnerus 26 March 1516 – 13 December 1565) was a
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...
physician, naturalist,
bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
, and
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
. 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 Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
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.


Life

Conrad Gessner was born on 26 March 1516, in Zürich, Switzerland, the son of Ursus Gessner, a poor Zürich furrier. His early life was one of poverty and hardship, but Gessner's father realized his talents, and sent him to live with and be schooled by a great uncle, who grew and collected medicinal herbs for a living. Here the boy became familiar with many plants and their medicinal purposes which led to a lifelong interest in natural history. Gessner first attended the ''Carolinum'' in Zürich, then later entered the
Fraumünster The Fraumünster (; lit. in en, Women's Minster, but often wrongly translated to urLady Minster) is a church in Zürich which was built on the remains of a former abbey for aristocratic women which was founded in 853 by Louis the German for h ...
seminary. There he studied classical languages, appearing as Penia (Poverty) in
Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his ...
' ''
Plutus In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Plutus (; grc-gre, Πλοῦτος, Ploûtos, wealth) is the god and the personification of wealth, and the son of the goddess of agriculture Demeter and the mortal Iasion. Family Plutus is most common ...
'', at the age of 15. In school, he impressed his teachers so much that a few of them helped sponsor him so that he could further his education, including arranging a scholarship for him to attend university in France to study theology (1532–1533) at the age of 17. There he attended the University of Bourges and
University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...
. Religious persecution forced him to leave Paris for
Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...
, but being unable to secure employment, he returned to Zürich. One of his teachers in Zürich acted as a foster father to him after the death of his father at the Battle of Kappel (1531), another provided him with three years of board and lodging, while yet another arranged his further education at the upper school in Strasbourg, the Strasbourg Academy. There he broadened his knowledge of ancient languages by studying Hebrew. In 1535, religious unrest drove him back to Zürich, where he made what some considered an imprudent marriage at the age of 19, of a woman from another poor family who had no
dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...
. Although some of his friends again came to his aid, he was appointed to obtaining a teaching position for him, this was in the lowest class and attracted a stipend barely more than a pittance. However he then obtained a paid leave of absence to study medicine at the
University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universiti ...
(1536). Throughout his life Gessner was interested in natural history, and collected specimens and descriptions of wildlife through travel and extensive correspondence with other friends and scholars. His approach to research consisted of four main components: observation, dissection, travel to distant lands, and accurate description. This rising observational approach was new to Renaissance scholars because people usually relied completely upon Classical writers for their research. He died of the
plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
, the year after his ennoblement on 13 December 1565.


Work

Conrad Gessner was a Renaissance
polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
, a physician, philosopher, encyclopaedist,
bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
,
philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined ...
, natural historian and illustrator. In 1537, at the age of 21, his publication of a Graecolatin dictionary led to his sponsors obtained for him the professorship of Greek at the newly founded academy of
Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
(then belonging to
Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...
). Here he had leisure to devote himself to scientific studies, especially botany, and earn money to further his medical studies. After three years of teaching at Lausanne, Gessner was able to travel to the medical school at the
University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier (french: Université de Montpellier) is a public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the wor ...
, where he received his doctoral degree (1541) from Basel. He then returned to Zürich to practice medicine, which he continued to do for the rest of his life. There he was also appointed to the post of lecturer of Aristotelean physics at the ''Carolinum'', the precursor of the
University of Zürich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
. After 1554 he became the city physician (). In addition to his duties there, and apart from a few journeys to foreign countries, and annual summer botanical journeys in his native land, and illnesses, he was able to devote himself to research and writing. His expeditions frequently involved visits to mountainous country, below the snow-line. Although primarily for purposes of botanical collection, he also extolled mountain climbing for the sake of exercise and enjoyment of the beauties of nature. In 1541 he prefixed to his treatise on milk and milk products, ''Libellus de lacte et operibus lactariis'' a letter addressed to his friend Jacob Avienus (Vogel) of
Glarus , neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ) , twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany) } Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus ...
on the wonders to be found among the mountains, declaring his love for them, and his firm resolve to climb at least one mountain every year, not only to collect flowers, but in order to exercise his body. In 1555 he issued his narrative ''Descriptio Montis Fracti sive Montis Pilati'' of his excursion to the Gnepfstein (1920 m), the lowest point in the Pilatus chain. Gessner is credited with a number of the first descriptions of species in Europe, both animals such as the brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''),
guinea pig The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus '' Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ...
(''Cavia porcellus'') and
turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...
(''Meleagris''), as well as plants such as the tulip (''
Tulipa gesneriana Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...
''). He first saw a tulip in April 1559, growing in the garden of the magistrate Johann Heinrich Herwart at
Augsberg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and regional ...
, and called it ''Tulipa turcarum'', the Turkish tulip. He is also credited with being the first person to describe brown adipose tissue, in 1551, in 1565 the first to document the pencil, and in 1563 among the first Europeans to write about the effects of tobacco.


Publications

Gessner's first work was a Latin-Greek Dictionary, the ''Lexicon Graeco-Latinum'' (1537), compiled during his studies in Basel. This was a revision of an original work by the Italian cleric, Varinus Phavorinus or Guarino of Favera (d. 1537), ''Magnum ac perutile dictionarium'' (1523). Over his lifetime he was able to produce some 70 publications on many different subjects. His next major work was his unique '' Bibliotheca'' (1545), a landmark in the history of bibliography, in which he set out to catalogue all the writers who had ever lived and their works. In addition to his monumental work on animal life, the '' Historiae animalium'' (1551–1558), he amassed a very large collection of notes and wood engravings of plants, but only published two botanical works in his lifetime, ''Historia plantarum et vires'' (1541) and the ''Catalogus plantarum'' (1542) in four languages. It was in the last decade of his life that he began to compile his major botanical work, '' Historia plantarum''. Although he died prior to its completion, his work was utilised by many other authors over the next two centuries, but was finally published in 1754. Not content with scientific works, Gessner was also active as a
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...
and bibliographer, putting forth in 1555 his book entitled ''Mithridates. De differentiis linguarum ..', an account of about 130 known languages, with the ''
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
'' in twenty-two languages. He also produced edited works of a number of classical authors (''see Edited works''), including
Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus ( grc, Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Greek transliteration ''Kláudios Ailianós''; c. 175c. 235 AD), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severu ...
(1556) and
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good E ...
(1559). A number of other works appeared after his death (
posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication Posthumous publication refers to material that is published after the author's death. This can be because the auth ...
), some long after (''see Posthumous works''). His work on insects was edited by various authors, including
Thomas Penny Thomas Penny (1532 – January 1589) was an English physician and early entomologist. His solo works have not survived and he is primarily known through quotations from other sixteenth-century biologists. It is believed that he broke with Ar ...
, until Thomas Muffet brought it to publication as ''Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum'' (1634), finally appearing in English translation as ''The Theatre of Insects'' in
Edward Topsell Edward Topsell (''circa'' 1572 – 1625) was an English cleric and author best remembered for his bestiary. Topsell was born and educated in Sevenoaks, Kent. He attended Christ's College, Cambridge, earned his B.A. and probably an M.A., as well, ...
's ''History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents'' (1658).


''Bibliotheca universalis'' (1545–1549)

In 1545, after four years of research, Gessner published his remarkable '' Bibliotheca universalis'', an exhaustive catalogue of all known works in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, of all writers who had ever lived, with the titles of their works, and brief annotations. The work, which included his own bio-bibliography, listed some three thousand authors alphabetically, and was the first modern bibliography published since the invention of printing. Through it, Gessner became known as the "father of bibliography." In all, about twelve thousand titles were included. A second part, a thematic index to the work, ''Pandectarum sive partitionum universalium libri xxi'', appeared in 1548. Although the title indicated that twenty one parts were intended, only nineteen books were included. Part 20, intended to include his medical work, was never finished and part 21, a theological encyclopaedia, was published separately in 1549.


''Historia animalium'' (1551–1558)

Gessner's great zoological work, '' Historia animalium'', is a 4,500-page encyclopedia of animals that appeared in Zürich in 4 volumes between 1551 and 1558: quadrupeds, amphibians, birds, and fishes. A fifth folio on snakes was issued in 1587. A German translation of the first 4 volumes titled ''Thierbůch'' was published in Zürich in 1563. This book was considered to be the first modern zoological work. It built a bridge between ancient, medieval and modern science. In ''Historia animalium'' Gessner combines data from old sources, such as the Old Testament, Aristotle, Pliny, folklore, and medieval bestiaries, adding his own observations. He created a new, comprehensive description of the Animal Kingdom. This was the first attempt by anyone to describe many animals accurately. The book unlike many works of its time was illustrated with hand-colored woodcuts drawn from personal observations by Gessner and his colleagues. Even though he sought to distinguish observed facts from myths and popular errors and was known for his accurate depiction of many animals in ''Historia animalium'', he also included many fictional animals such as the Unicorn and the Basilisk, which he had only heard about from medieval bestiaries. But when Gessner doubted the accuracy of the opinions he relayed in his own writings, or the validity of the illustrations he included, he clearly said so. Besides any plant or animal's potential advantage to people, Gessner was interested in learning about them because of the moral lessons they could teach and the divine truths they might tell. He went into as much detail about some unreal animals as he did about real ones. Later in 1556 he also combined real and fictional creatures in his edition of the works of
Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus ( grc, Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Greek transliteration ''Kláudios Ailianós''; c. 175c. 235 AD), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severu ...
. ''Historia animalium'' includes sketches for many well-known animals, and some fictional ones, including unicorns and mermaids. He accomplished many of his works in a large part due to the web of acquaintances he established with leading naturalists throughout Europe, who included John Caius, English court physician to the Tudors and second founder of
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...
. Not only did they send him their ideas, but also sent him plants, animals and gems. He returned the favor – and kept helpful specimens coming – by naming plants after correspondents and friends.


''Historia plantarum'' (unfinished)

Over his lifetime, Gessner amassed a considerable collection of plants and seeds and made extensive notes and wood engravings. In the last decade of his life he began to compile his major botanical work, ''Historia plantarum''. although he died prior to its publication his materials were utilised by many subsequent authors for the next two hundred years, these included some 1,500 engravings of plants and their important flowers and seeds, most of which were original. The scale and scientific rigour of these were unusual for the time, and Gessner was a skilled artist, producing detailed drawings of specific plant parts that illustrated their characteristics, with extensive marginal notation discussing their growth form and habitation. Finally, the work was published in 1754.


Censorship

There was extreme religious tension at the time that ''Historia animalium'' came out. Under
Pope Paul IV Pope Paul IV, born Gian Pietro Carafa, C.R. ( la, Paulus IV; it, Paolo IV; 28 June 1476 – 18 August 1559) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 May 1555 to his death in August 1559. While serving as pap ...
the Pauline Index felt that the religious convictions of an author contaminated all his writings. Since Gessner was a Protestant his works were included in this index of prohibited books. Even though religious tensions were high, Gessner maintained friendships on both sides of the Catholic-Protestant divide. In fact, Catholic booksellers in Venice protested the Inquisition's blanket ban on Gessner's books, and some of his work was eventually allowed after it had been "cleaned" of its doctrinal errors.


List of selected publications

: ''see , '' * * * * * , ''see also'' '' Bibliotheca universalis'' * , see also '' Bibliotheca universalis'' ** ** * ** 1551 ''Quadrupedes vivipares'' ** 1554 ''Quadrupedes ovipares'' ** 1555 ''Avium natura'' ** 1558 ''Piscium & aquatilium animantium natura'' * * * * * * ; * ''Schatz Euonymi'', 1582/1583 ** ''Der erste Theil, deß köstlichen unnd theuren Schatzes Euonymi Philiatri ..Erstlich in Latein beschrieben durch Euonymum Philiatrum, und neuwlich verteutscht durch Joannem Rudolphum Landenberger zu Zürych'', 158
Band 1
** ''Ander Theil des Schatzs Euonymi ..Erstlich zusammen getragen, durch Herren Doctor Cunrat Geßner, Demnach von Caspar Wolffen der Artzneyen Doctor in Zürich in Latin beschriben und in Truck gefertiget, jetzund aber newlich von Johan. Jacobo Nüscheler Doctorn, in Teütsche Sprach vertolmetschet.'', 158
Band 2Band 2
* * * * * * ; * * ; *


Legacy

Gessner has been described as the father of modern scientific botany and zoology, and the father of modern bibliography. To his contemporaries he was best known as a botanist. Despite his traveling ways and the job of maintaining his own gardens, Gesner probably spent most of his time inside his own extensive library. He listed among his History of Animals sources more than 80 Greek authors and at least 175 Latin authors, as well as works by German, French, and Italian authors. He even attempted to establish a "universal library" of all books in existence. The project might sound strange to the modern mind, but Gessner invested tremendous energy in the project. He sniffed through remote libraries along with the collections of the Vatican Library and catalogs of printers and booksellers. By assembling this universal library of information, Gessner put together a database centuries before computers would ease such work. He cut relevant passages out of books, grouped the cuttings by general theme, subdivided the groups into more specific categories, and boxed them. He could then retrieve and arrange the cuttings as needed. In the words of science writer Anna Pavord, "He was a one-man search engine, a 16th-century Google with the added bonus of critical evaluation." To his contemporaries, Gessner was known as "the Swiss Pliny." According to legend, when he knew his time was near, he asked to be taken to his library where he had spent so much of his life, to die among his favorite books. At the time of his death, Gesner had published 72 books, and written 18 more unpublished manuscripts. His work on plants was not published until centuries after his death. In 1576 George Baker published a translation of the ''Evonymus'' of Conrad Gessner under the title of ''The Newe Jewell of Health, wherein is contained the most excellent Secretes of Physicke and Philosophie divided into fower bookes''. Amongst his students was
Felix Plater Felix Platter (also Plater ; ; Latinized: Platerus; 28 October 1536 – 28 July 1614) was a Swiss physician, well known for his classification of psychiatric diseases, and was also the first to describe an intracranial tumour (a meningioma). Bi ...
, who became a professor of medicine, and accumulated many plant specimens, but also illustrations of animals used in ''Historiae animalium''. A year after his death, his friend Josias Simler published a biography of Gessner. Gessner and others founded the ''Physikalische Gesellschaft'' in Zurich, which later became the '' Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich'' (NGZH) in 1746, to promote the study of natural sciences. Today it is one of the oldest Swiss scientific societies. The society's annual publication, the ''Neujahrsblatt der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich'' was devoted to a biography of Gessner in 1966, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death.


Eponomy

In 1753
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...
named ''
Tulipa gesneriana Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...
'', the
type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specim ...
of the '' Tulipa''
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
, in his honour. The
flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...
genus ''
Gesneria ''Gesneria'' is a genus of approximately 50 species in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. Except for two or three odd South American species, all are native to islands of the Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la ...
'' and its family
Gesneriaceae Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), ...
are named after him. A genus of moths is also named ''
Gesneria ''Gesneria'' is a genus of approximately 50 species in the flowering plant family Gesneriaceae. Except for two or three odd South American species, all are native to islands of the Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la ...
'' after him.


Memorials

* The ''Gessner''
herbal garden The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for g ...
at the
Old Botanical Garden, Zürich The Old Botanical Garden (German: ''Alter Botanischer Garten'') is a botanical garden and arboretum in the Swiss city of Zürich. The garden is, among the neighbored '' Schanzengraben'' moat and the '' Bauschänzli'' bastion, one of the last remai ...
, is named after him, and there is a bust in the garden in his memory (''see image'') * The
cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...
in the Carolinum, Zürich in the '' Grossmünster'' church, where Gessner is buried, also houses a herbal garden dedicated to him. * Gessner was featured on the 50
Swiss francs The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...
banknotes issued between 1978 and 1994. * On 16 March 2016 the State Museum in Zürich, in close collaboration with Zurich’s Central Library ( Zentralbibliothek Zürich), dedicated a special exhibition to Gessner in celebration of the 500th anniversary of his birth.


See also

* Bibliotheca universalis * Historia Animalium * Historia Plantarum * History of botany


Notes

;Bibliographic notes


References


Further reading


Books and theses

* * * * * see also Authors of Plant Names * * * * * ''see also
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia __NOTOC__ ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia'' is a large comprehensive encyclopedia of animal life. It is named after its original editor in chief, Bernhard Grzimek ().{{Cite web, title=Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia act sheet, publisher=G ...
'' * * * * * * * see also
Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...
* * * * * * * * * *


Chapters

* , in * , in * , in * , in * , in * , in


Articles

* * * * * *


Websites

* ''listing of works held'' * * * * * ;Biography * * ; Zoology * * * * * *


External links

* *
''The Natural History of Horses, with Memoir of Gesner''
by Charles Hamilton Smith
Images from Icones Animalium... 1560.

Online Galleries, History of Science Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries
High resolution images of works by and/or portraits of Conrad Gessner in .jpg and .tiff format. * In 2012, Amsterdam University Library digitised the so-called Gessner albums
press release
. Some of Gessner's drawings have been made available on Flickr
fish and other creatures of the seamammals
* Gesner, Conrad (1565
''De omni rerum fossilium genere, gemmis, lapidibus, metallis, et huiusmod''
– digital facsimile from the Linda Hall Library
Conrad Gessner at enotes


{{DEFAULTSORT:Gessner, Conrad 1516 births 1565 deaths 16th-century Latin-language writers 16th-century Swiss physicians Botanists with author abbreviations Christian Hebraists 16th-century deaths from plague (disease) Scientists from Zürich 16th-century Swiss botanists Linguists from Switzerland Swiss mountain climbers Swiss naturalists Swiss zoologists Renaissance scientists Carolinum, Zurich, faculty Bibliographers Converts to Lutheranism from Roman Catholicism 16th-century Swiss writers