Christoph Girtanner

Christoph Girtanner (born December 7, 1760 in St. Gallen , Switzerland ; † May 17, 1800 in Göttingen ) was a Swiss doctor , chemist and political-historical writer .

Life

Girtanner came from an old council family of St. Gallen and was the son of the merchant and banker Hieronymus Girtanner and his wife Barbara Felicitas born. Wegelin. He was educated at the Philanthropinum Schloss Marschlins and later studied botany and chemistry at the University of Lausanne , medicine in Strasbourg from 1779 and medicine, chemistry and physics in Göttingen from 1780 . In 1782 he obtained his doctorate in Göttingen. After a brief activity as a general practitioner (pediatric) doctor in St. Gallen, he traveled through Europe from 1785 to 1787 and did research (including in Paris and London) in the fields of biology, chemistry and medicine. In 1786 he became a corresponding member of the Royal Society of Sciences in Göttingen . In 1787 he moved back to Göttingen and stayed there with a few interruptions, such as a trip to Scotland in 1789, as a resident doctor in 1790 until his death. In 1790 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

In Göttingen he became a friend of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg , whose well-known Göttingen pocket calendar he continued to publish after his death. As a private scholar , he published numerous fundamental works in the field of medicine, chemistry and contemporary history (especially after the French Revolution in 1789). He achieved particular merits in replacing the theory of phlogiston with the theory of oxidation. His clear powers of observation were valued and recognized by his contemporaries.

Alexander von Humboldt met Girtanner in London on the Western European trip that he made with Georg Forster from late March to early July 1790 . Girtanner drew Humboldt's attention to the dominant role of the natural sciences in France, in particular to the anti-inflammatory new chemistry represented by Antoine Laurent de Lavoisiers . Girtanner followed the course of the French Revolution in his Historical News and, after initial sympathy, became a conservative critic.

Works (selection)

Treatise on venereal disease . Johann Christian Dietrich, Göttingen 1788–89 Volume I 1788 (digitized version) , Volume II 1789 (digitized version) , Volume III 1789 (digitized version)
New chemical nomenclature for the German language , Berlin 1791
The beginnings of anti-inflammatory chemistry . Berlin 1792 (digitized version) (2nd edition 1795 (digitized version) )
Historical news and political reflections on the French Revolution , 17 volumes, continued by F. Buchholtz, Berlin 1793–1803
Treatise on the diseases of children and on the physical education of them . Heinrich August Rottmann, Berlin 1794 (digitized version)
About the Kantian principle for natural history , Göttingen 1796 (digitized version)
Detailed presentation of Brownin's system of practical medicine, together with a complete literature and a criticism of the same . Johann Georg Rosenbusch, Göttingen 1797/98.
Anonymous (attributed to Girtanner): Former state of Switzerland for information about the latest incidents in Switzerland. From an eyewitness. Dieterich, Göttingen 1800 (digitized version)

literature

Ferdinand Frensdorff , August Hirsch : Girtanner, Christoph . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 189-191.
Carl Wegelin: Girtanner, Christoph. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 411 f. ( Digitized version ).
Urs Boschung : Girtanner, Christoph. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Ilse Jahn: Girtanner, Christoph. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 496.
Hans-Peter Tränkle: The well-known philosophical doctor and political writer Hofrath Christoph Girtanner: Investigations into his life and work. Medical dissertation, Tübingen 1986

Web links

Wikisource: Christoph Girtanner - Sources and full texts

Christoph Girtanner in The Online Encyclopedia of Dermatology, Venereology, Allergology and Environmental Medicine

Individual evidence

↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 93.
^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 8, 2019 .
^ Letter : Alexander von Humboldt to Christoph Girtanner, Jena, April 16, 1795
^ Friedrich Eberle and Theo Stammen Ed .: The French Revolution in Germany. Contemporary texts by German authors . Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, p. 446 f .

personal data
SURNAME	Girtanner, Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss doctor, chemist and political-historical writer
DATE OF BIRTH	December 7, 1760
PLACE OF BIRTH	St. Gallen , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH	May 17, 1800
Place of death	Goettingen

[1] Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 93.

[2] Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed December 8, 2019 .

[3] Letter : Alexander von Humboldt to Christoph Girtanner, Jena, April 16, 1795

[4] Friedrich Eberle and Theo Stammen Ed .: The French Revolution in Germany. Contemporary texts by German authors . Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, p. 446 f .