Johannes Gessner
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Johannes Gessner (18 March 1709 – 6 May 1790) was a
Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
mathematician, physicist, botanist, mineralogist and physician. He is seen as the founder of the "Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Zürich". Gessner was born and died in
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, where he trained under the physician
Johannes von Muralt Jean de Muralt or Johannes von Muralt (18 July 1877, Zurich - 10 November 1947, Zurich), was a Swiss lawyer and the chairman of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, International League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies fr ...
. He moved to
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 ...
to study medicine, continuing his studies in 1726 and 1727 at the
University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange as a Protestant institution, it holds the distinction of being the oldest university in the Neth ...
. There he became friendly with
Albrecht von Haller Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave and Jacob Winslow, he is sometimes r ...
, with whom he made a grand tour to Paris to finish their medical studies. There he wrote his diary, later published as ''Pariser Tagebuch''. The two friends in 1728 studied mathematics under
Johann Bernoulli Johann Bernoulli (also known as Jean in French or John in English; – 1 January 1748) was a Swiss people, Swiss mathematician and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family. He is known for his contributions to infin ...
and travelled through Switzerland. Gessner became a doctor in
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 ...
in 1730, but soon changed to a scientific career. In 1733 he became a mathematics professor and in 1738 began to teach physics in Zürich. Gessner influenced many Swiss students, such as
Johann Heinrich Rahn Johann Rahn (Latinised form Rhonius) (10 March 1622 – 25 May 1676) was a Swiss mathematician who is credited with the first use of the division sign, ÷ (a repurposed obelus variant) and the therefore sign, ∴. The symbols were used in ''Teu ...
and
Johann Georg Sulzer Johann Georg Sulzer (; 16 October 1720 in Winterthur – 27 February 1779 in Berlin) was a Swiss professor of Mathematics, who later on moved on to the field of electricity. He was a Wolffian philosopher and director of the philosophical section ...
. Gessner produced publications on Swiss flora, and, as a follower of
Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
, conceived the idea of creating illustrations which portrayed the Linnaean plant families. With the help of the painter and engraver Christian Gottlieb Geissler, he produced the 24-part ''Tabulae Phytographicae'', which first appeared in 1795.''Plant'' (Phaidon Press 2016 - Victoria Clarke et al.)


Works

Scientific: * ''Phytographia sacra'', 1759–69 * ''Tabulae phytographicae'', 1795–1804 Literary: * ''Pariser Tagebuch'', 1727.


References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gessner, Johannes 1709 births 1790 deaths 18th-century Swiss physicians 18th-century Swiss physicists 18th-century Swiss mathematicians 18th-century Swiss botanists