Johann Jakob Scheuchzer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
JJ Scheuchzer, painted by Hans Ulrich Heidegger (1700–1747) in 1734

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (born August 2, 1672 in Zurich ; † June 23, 1733 there ) was a Swiss doctor and natural scientist who was best known for his interpretation of fossils as remnants of the Flood ( Flood theory ). Its official botanical author abbreviation is " JJScheuchzer ".

Life

Scheuchzer's birthplace and home of Konrad von Mure († 1280), Zwingli-Platz Zurich

Scheuchzer was born in 1672 as the son of the Zurich city doctor of the same name († 1688). Johannes Scheuchzer was his younger brother. His mother was the daughter of the Latin school director, whose school ( Collegium Humanitatis ) he attended. In addition, his father taught him natural science subjects. In 1688, however, his father died early, and Scheuchzer devoted himself to self-taught studies. The Zurich orphanage doctor Johann Jacob Wagner (1641–1695), the author of the first Historia naturalis Helvetiae curiosa (Zurich 1689), had a great influence on him during this time.

He completed his medical studies from 1692 in Altdorf near Nuremberg and from 1693 in Utrecht , where he received his doctorate in 1694 . In the same year, encouraged by August Quirinus Rivinus , the rector of Leipzig University, he went on his first research trip to the Alps . From 1695 he gave lectures at the Collegium of the Well-intentioned (1694–1709), a confidential discussion group of Zurich intellectuals.

Since Scheuchzer had to wait after his studies until one of Zurich's four official doctors died in order to be able to take his position, he worked with the city's scientific societies and academies. With the death of Johann Jakob Wagner in 1695 he got his job as a doctor. At the same time, he also took over the position of director of the public library and the art and natural history chamber, where he decided to research his home country. These research trips would then take him through the country until 1714.

Using a large and detailed catalog of 220 questions, he obtained information in advance from acquaintances throughout Switzerland about nature and the weather conditions in their hometowns; however, participation was rather low. Scheuchzer wrote the weekly narrative of the Strange Natural Stories of the Swiss Country as a summary of his research results from 1705 to 1707, especially to raise popular education and to refute folk tales . In the work, for example, he refuted the opinion that the thunderstorms on Lake Pilatus were caused by demons as soon as you get closer to the lake or even throw an object into it. He wrote about it in 1714 "In the presence of the herdsmen, who laugh at these fables, I threw stone, wood and other things not just once into this puddle without danger and harm ". Scheuchzer also wrote the first physics book in German in 1701 with the title Physica, or Nature Science .

In 1697 Scheuchzer married Susanna Vogel, the daughter of the dyer Hans Vogel. Johann Caspar Scheuchzer stood out among his sons as a doctor, natural scientist and Japanese scientist.

Scientific achievements

Of particular importance are the scientific achievements of Scheuchzer, who was the first to carry out height measurements with barometric instruments instead of the much more unreliable trigonometric calculations. Through studies on rock crystals, he became one of the founders of modern crystallography with the Lucerne city physicist Moritz Anton Kappeler and his student Johann Heinrich Hottinger (1680–1756) , and thanks to his climatological observations he was able to write regular weather reports.

However, Johann Jakob Scheuchzer is best known for his paleontological work. In his Lithographia Helvetica , he described the fossils as "nature games" or remains of the flood. By translating the book Essay toward a Natural History of the earth by John Woodward into Latin, however, he was convinced of the way of thinking of René Descartes , who represented a coexistence of divine omnipotence and the existence of natural laws in God's work. Scheuchzer dealt more intensively with fossils, especially those of animals, and in 1726 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society presented a skeleton he found on Schiener Berg as that of a person who drowned in the Flood ( Homo diluvii testis ). He was wrong with this interpretation of the fossil and several years later it was recognized by the French Georges Cuvier (1769 to 1832) as the skeleton of an extinct giant salamander and named as Andrias Scheuchzeri .

Through the Herbarium diluvianum , published in 1709 , Johann Jakob Scheuchzer became the founder of paleobotany . In this work he shows plant prints on 14 panels, which mainly depict plants from the Carboniferous, Permian and Tertiary periods. These panels are made so true to life that most of the images can be used to identify the species. His extensive collection of fossils and minerals is now kept in the Paleontological Museum of Zurich, a small part of which is on display.

In 1712 a four-sheet map of Switzerland was created, the Nova Helvetiae tabula geographica , which for some time was considered the best and most valid map of Switzerland. Johann Jakob Scheuchzer gained international recognition through his scientific work. For example, the then President of the Royal Society in London , Isaac Newton , took part in the printing of Scheuchzer's first work Itinera alpina tria , and in 1710, on the recommendation of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great offered him the well-paid position as personal physician Scheuchzer refused.

Example illustration from the Herbarium diluvianum
Andrias Scheuchzeri
The Devil's Bridge on Scheuchzer's map from 1712

In Switzerland itself, however, Scheuchzer was avoided, mainly because of his new ideas and interpretations of divine work. Especially through the work Physica Sacra, or Hallowed Natural Science ( copper Bible for short ), he gambled away the sympathies of his compatriots. In this four-volume work the attempt was made to provide evidence of God through natural science. This so-called physical theology represented biblical stories through scientific explanations. Scheuchzer was refused permission to print the copper Bible in the Swiss Confederation . From 1731 to 1735, however , the Physica sacra was published in Augsburg . With four folio volumes and 2098 pages as well as 750 coppers, it became a masterpiece of printing at that time. Scheuchzer was able to finish the manuscripts for the German and Latin editions, but due to his death on June 23, 1733, he did not live to see the completion. After the Latin and German versions, a Dutch and a French version of the work followed.

Honors

In 1697 he was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina .

The Scheuchzerhorn and the Scheuchzerjoch in the Bernese Alps are named after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. Scheuchzerstrasse was named after him in the Oberstrass district of Zurich (District 6) . The writer Elias Canetti lived in number 68 between 1916 and 1919 .

Carl von Linné named the genus Scheuchzeria of the flowering rush family (Scheuchzeriaceae) in his honor and his brother Johannes Scheuchzer .

Plaque
Memorial plaque on Trittligasse in Zurich

estate

In the Central Library Zurich is Scheuchzers discount corresponding to 12.3 linear meters. These include letters, material about the work, files, works, images and maps (in the map collection); also minutes of the Collegium of the Well-intentioned (1694–1709), speeches, lectures and preparatory work.

Works

Homo diluvii testis (Zurich, 1726)
Illustration from the review in the Piscium querelae et vindiciae ( Acta eruditorum , 1709)
  • Physica, or nature science. Zurich 1701.
  • Specimen lithografiae helveticae. Zurich 1702.
  • Description of the natural history of Switzerland. Zurich 1706–1708 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.65822 .
  • Strange natural stories of the Swiss country weekly narration. Zurich 1707.
  • Piscium Querelae et vindiciae. Zurich 1708 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.9145 .
  • Herbarium diluvianum. Zurich 1709.
  • Natural history of the Schweitzer Land. Zurich 1716.
  • Jobi physica sacra, or Job's natural science, compared to today's. Zurich 1721.
  • Herbarium Diluvianum. 1723. doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.44483 , digitized
  • Homo diluvii testis. Zurich 1726
  • Sceleton duorum humanorum petrefactorum pars, ex epistola ad H. Sloane. In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 34, 1728.
  • Physica sacra. 4 volumes, Augsburg and Ulm 1731–1735.
  • Ouresiphoites Helveticus, sive itinera per Helvetiae alpinas regiones. on-line

literature

  • Claus Bernet :  Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 21, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-110-3 , Sp. 1312-1355.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Simona Boscani Leoni (ed.): Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733) and early modern nature research, Basel: Schwabe 2010.
  • Simona Boscani Leoni: "Networked Worlds: The Correspondence Network of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer", in: Urs B. Leu (ed.): Natura Sacra. The early enlightener Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733), Zug 2012, pp. 130–165
  • Simona Boscani Leoni (ed.): "Incredible mountain wonders". Johann Jakob Scheuchzer and Graubünden. Selected letters 1699–1707, Chur 2019, ISBN 3-905342-59-6 .
  • Simona Boscani Leoni (ed.): "Lettres des Grisons": Science, religion and diplomacy in the correspondence of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. An edition of selected Swiss letters (1695–1731), online edition: https://hallernet.org/edition/scheuchzer-korrespondenz
  • Dunja Bulinsky: Close Relationships of a European Scholar. Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733) and his social environment , Zurich: Chronos Verlag 2020 ISBN 978-3-0340-1561-5 .
  • Madlena Cavelti Hammer: Learning from works of art, for example: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer's Swiss map from 1720. In: Cartographica Helvetica Heft 1 (1990) pp. 29–31 full text
  • Arthur Dürst : Jakob Scheuchzer: "Nova Helvetiae tabula geographica." De Clivo Press, Zurich 1971.
  • Arthur Dürst: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer and the «Natur-Histori des Schweitzerland». Text accompanying the facsimile edition. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1978.
  • Arthur Dürst: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, template (hand drawing) approx. 1712 for the "Nova Helvetiae tabula geographica" from 1712/1713. Text accompanying the reproduction. Mathieu, Zurich 1999.
  • Robert Felfe: Natural history as an artful synthesis. Physics theology and visual practice with Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 2003.
  • Hans Fischer: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, natural scientist and doctor (= New Year's paper of the Natural Research Society in Zurich ). Leemann, Zurich 1973.
  • Michael Kempe: Science, Theology, Enlightenment. Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733) and the flood theory. Epfendorf 2003, ISBN 3-928471-33-3 .
  • Michael Kempe:  Scheuchzer, Johann Jakob. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11203-2 , p. 711 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Urs B. Leu (ed.): Natura Sacra. The early enlightener Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733), Zug 2012.
  • Hanspeter Marti: Scheuchzer, Johann Jakob. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  • Paul Michel : The book of nature with Johann Jacob Scheuchzer. In: W. Haubrichs , W. Kleiber, R. Voss (Eds.): Vox Sermo Res. Festschrift Uwe Ruberg . Hirzel, Stuttgart / Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-7776-1069-0 . Pp. 169-193.
  • Bernhard Milt : JJ Scheuchzer and his trip to the land of Utopia. In: Notes on Swiss cultural history. Volume 91 (1946) pp. 143-146.
  • Irmgard Müsch: Sacred natural science. Johann Jakob Scheuchzer's copper Bible. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2000, ISBN 3-525-47903-4 .
  • Eberhard Rohse: Paleontological comfort at the Sinflutort. Natural history and the Bible in and around Raabe's “Stopfkuchen” . In: Sören R. Fauth, Rolf Parr and Eberhard Rohse (eds.): “The best bites of the cake”. Wilhelm Raabe's narrative: contexts, subtexts, connections. Wallstein, Göttingen 2009, ISBN 978-3-8353-0544-1 , pp. 63–116 (here in particular pp. 72–85: “Odfeld” excursion: Noah Buchius as a deluge palaeontologist - “Homo diluvii testis” ) .
  • Hermann Alfred Schmid: The disenchantment of the world in Swiss cultural studies , dissertation Basel 1942 (p. 98–161 about Scheuchzer).
  • Rudolf Steiger: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer I. Age (until 1699). (Swiss Studies in History XV / 1; 1927), Zurich 1930. [Diss. Zurich 1927; more not published].
  • Rudolf Steiger: Directory of the scientific legacy of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. (Quarterly journal of the Natural Research Society in Zurich LXXVIII), Zurich 1933.
  • Georg von Wyß :  Scheuchzer, Johann Jakob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 34, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1892, pp. 710-715.

Web links

Commons : Johann Jakob Scheuchzer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wolfgang Michel: Johann Caspar Scheuchzer (1702–1729) and the publication of the History of Japan. In: Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques, 64, 1, 2010 Zurich Open Repository and Archive ZORA pp. 101–137
  2. ^ Hanspeter Marti: Johann Jakob Scheuchzer. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . November 20, 2012. Retrieved November 29, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Member entry of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 20, 2016.
  4. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica. Leiden 1737, p. 94.
  5. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum. Leiden 1742, p. 153.
  6. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Scheuchzer, Johann Jakob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss doctor and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1672
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1733
Place of death Zurich