Georg August Wilhelm Seyler (2 June 1800 in

Celle Celle () is a town and capital of the district of Celle (district), Celle in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany. The town is situated on the banks of the river Aller (Germany), Aller, a tributary of the Weser, and has a population of about ...

– 17 January 1866) was a German theologian and priest, and the adoptive father of

Felix Hoppe-Seyler Ernst Felix Immanuel Hoppe-Seyler (''né'' Felix Hoppe; 26 December 1825 – 10 August 1895) was a German physiologist and chemist, and the principal founder of the disciplines of biochemistry and molecular biology. He had discovered Yeast nuclei ...

, the principal founder of biochemistry and molecular biology.

Biography

Georg Seyler was a son of the court pharmacist Abel Seyler the Younger and Caroline Klügel, and was a grandson of the famous theatre principal

Abel Seyler Abel Seyler (23 August 1730, Liestal – 25 April 1800, Rellingen) was a Swiss-born theatre director and former merchant banker, who was regarded as one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe. He played a pivotal role in the dev ...

and of the mathematician and physicist

Georg Simon Klügel Georg Simon Klügel (August 19, 1739 – August 4, 1812) was a German mathematician and physicist. He was born in Hamburg, and in 1760 went to the University of Göttingen where he initially studied theology before switching to mathematics. ...

. He belonged to the originally Swiss

Seyler family The Seyler family (also spelled Seiler) is a Swiss family, originally a patrician (post-Roman Europe), patrician family from Liestal near Basel. Family members served as councillors and Schultheißen of Liestal from the 15th century, later also as ...

from

Liestal Liestal (, Standard ), formerly spelled Liesthal, is the capital of Liestal District and the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Landschaft in Switzerland, south of Basel. Liestal is an industrial town with a Cobbled street, cobbled-street ...

and

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

. He was a nephew of the prominent Hamburg banker

Ludwig Erdwin Seyler Ludwig Erdwin Seyler (15 May 1758 – 26 October 1836; often known as ''L.E. Seyler'') was a Hamburg merchant, merchant banker and politician. He was by marriage a member of the Hanseaten (class), Hanseatic Berenberg family, Berenberg dynasty, and ...

and of the

Sturm und Drang (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto-Romanticism, Romantic movement in German literature and Music of Germany, music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity an ...

poet Johann Anton Leisewitz. He early took an interest in classics and literature, and was particularly influenced by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

. From 1819, he studied theology at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

and the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

. After earning a doctorate in theology, he entered the priestly seminary of Wittenberg. He was pastor in

Annaburg Annaburg () is a town in Wittenberg district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was the seat of the former ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft'' Annaburg-Prettin. Constituent communities The town Annaburg consists of the following ''Ortschaften'' or municipa ...

from 1838 until his retirement in 1863. He was married to Klara Hoppe, a daughter of the Freiburg bishop Ernst August Dankegott Hoppe, and a sister of the principal founder of biochemistry and molecular biology

(né Felix Hoppe). After the death of his parents-in-law, his 25 years younger brother-in-law lived with him and his wife for some time, and in 1864 he formally adopted his brother-in-law, who then added the Seyler name to his family name in gratitude.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seyler, Georg 1800 births 1866 deaths University of Göttingen alumni University of Halle alumni People from Celle German Lutheran theologians Georg