Günther Christoph Schelhammer

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Günther Christoph Schelhammer (also Schellhammer ) (born March 13, 1649 in Jena ; † February 11, 1716 in Kiel ) was a doctor and professor .

family

Günther Christoph Schelhammer was born into a family of doctors from Hamburg . His father Christoph Schelhammer (1620–1651) was professor of anatomy and surgery and rector at the University of Jena .

In 1679 he married Maria Sophia Conring , a daughter of the medicine professor Hermann Conring , who was considered a staunch opponent of Paracelsus . Schellhammer's only daughter Henrica Maria, born in Helmstedt in 1684 ; died on May 28, 1720 in Rostock ; was married to Christoph Martin Burchard (1680–1742). The couple had no children.

education

Schelhammer began studying medicine in Jena, moved to Leipzig in 1666 , and then went on an extensive educational trip to Holland , England , France and Italy . After his return in 1677 he received his doctorate in medicine and accepted a professorship for botany in Helmstedt . In 1689 Schellhammer switched to a professorship for anatomy , surgery and botany in Jena, and in 1695 as a full professor of medicine in Kiel . He was the ducal personal physician to the dukes of Gottorf .

Fonts

Schelhammer's writings include botanical, chemical and physical topics as well as numerous medical dissertations. His main work "Ars medendi vindicata" (Kiel 1704) was only published after his death in 1747. Among the medical writings there is also a dissertation by his son-in-law Christoph Martin Burchard, which dealt with the topic of magic.

Schelhammer also used his language skills for literary translations. His most important work in this regard is the "Great Alexander". This translation is wrongly ascribed in the literature to his wife Maria.

Scientific importance

Schelhammer was a member of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum and the Academia Recuperatiorum in Padua . He was one of the first to classify diseases according to people's different ages (“De morbis aetatum”, Jena 1694). He is considered a supporter of Franciscus de le Boë Sylvius and the iatrochemistry developed by Paracelsus , which his foster father and uncle Werner Rolfinck , professor of iatrochemistry at the University of Jena, championed intensely. He was in intensive correspondence with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz , who promised himself a renewal movement in medicine from Schellhammer.

Life tricks

After the death of his client von Gottorf, he was called back to Kiel, probably due to the reputation of his wife and sister-in-law. Here, however, he lived in a dispute with Baron von Görtz , who stated that he was paid insufficiently or not at all. In his correspondence with Leibniz, he complained that he almost ended up on the begging stick. Schelhammer thus became one of the most famous victims of the reforms of his former employer, the Duke of Gottorf.

literature

Sources and references

  1. ↑ List of Rectors of the University of Jena (PDF; 911 kB) ( Memento from November 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ State Library MV
  3. ↑ The high style rhetoric: the German Racine in the French tradition by Alexander Nebrig
  4. ↑ Member entry of Günther Christoph Schelhammer at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 21, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Schelhammer, Günther Christoph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schellhammer, Günther Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German medic
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1649
PLACE OF BIRTH Jena
DATE OF DEATH February 11, 1716
Place of death Kiel