Georg Wolfgang Wedel

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Georg Wolfgang Wedel, engraving by Gustav Andreas Wolfgang after Christian Schaffer (1678)
Amoenitates materiae medicae
title page (1684)

Georg Wolfgang Wedel , mostly Wolffgang in prints (born November 12, 1645 in Golßen in Niederlausitz, † September 6, 1721 in Jena ) was a German physician, personal physician and alchemist.

Life

Georg Wolffgang Wedel, the son of pastor Johann Georg Wedel († 1665 in Spremberg), attended the school in Spremberg, in 1653 the school in his place of birth and on April 29, 1656 moved into the Pforta electoral Saxon state school . Here Johann Kühn was the rector of the facility, and the then vice-rector Bartholomai and Johann Georg Lorenz taught there . After he had obtained the higher education entrance qualification there, he left the educational institution on October 8, 1661 to pursue further studies at home. With the intention of pursuing a medical degree, he moved to the University of Jena on April 29, 1662 . Here he attended lectures at the philosophical faculty with the adjuncts Johann Prätorius, Caspar Posner (1671-1718) and Erhard Weigel . At the medical faculty he heard Johann Theodor Schenck , Johann Arnold Friderici , Werner Rolfinck .

Following his father's death, he had to give up studying abroad and stayed in Jena. On January 4, 1667, he left Jena and visited Silesia, practicing outside Silesia for a short time in Landsberg and then visiting his mother in Spremberg. Traveling via Wittenberg and Leipzig , he returned to Jena, where he intended to do his doctorate. After he had obtained his licentiate in medicine on May 20, 1667, he took up the post of rural physician of Saxe-Gotha on August 15, 1667 . In this function he gained a certain reputation at the Saxon court of Weimar, received his doctorate in medicine on December 7, 1669 in Jena and in 1672 completed a scholarly trip to the Netherlands. Returned to Thuringia, on January 30, 1673 he became full professor of medicine at the Jenaer Salana and was given the chair for anatomy, surgery and botany and (after Rolfinck's death) also for theoretical medicine. From 1679 he was personal physician to Johann Ernst II von Sachsen-Weimar and in 1685 personal physician, as well as counsel to several Saxon dukes. On August 15, 1672 he became a member of the Leopoldina with the nickname Hercules I. Before the beginning of the 18th century he became a member of the Accademia dei Ricoverati in Padua and in 1706 a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin . In 1694 he was appointed imperial count palatine by the emperor Leopold , in 1717 he became imperial councilor of Karl VI and in 1718 court counselor of Saxe-Weimar , and in the same year he was electoral Saxon councilor and personal physician. Wedel also took part in the organizational tasks of the Jena University. He was dean of the medical faculty several times and in the winter semesters 1674, 1680, 1686, 1690, 1696, 1700, 1705, 1709, 1715, 1721 ten times rector of the alma mater .

He was a follower of the chemiatric teachings of Franciscus Sylvius . He was a defender of alchemy , unlike his teacher Rolfink, who refused it. Like other alchemists, he tried his hand at the riddle inscription Aelia Laelia Crispis . He also wrote pharmaceutical works. His works show a comprehensive education. Wedel was also active as a chemical historian; B. in the clarification of the biography of Basilius Valentinus . Wedel's writings identify him as a typical eclectic. The fonts were not only iatrochemical, but also had a vitalistic-animistic touch. Wedel's rationalism was strongly based on René Descartes . For the sensualist Wedel, the guiding principles of knowledge were experience, reason and analogy.

Wedel's pupils included Georg Ernst Stahl and Friedrich Hofmann .

Wedel was married three times. Documented are the marriage on November 2, 1669 in Eisenach with Christina Sabina Avemann (* February 23, 1655 - March 3, 1679), the eldest daughter of the Princely Saxon Court Councilor in Marksuhl, Elias Heinrich Avemann. Christina Theodora (* 1670, who passed away after a short time), Ernst Heinrich Wedel (* August 1, 1671 in Gotha; † April 13, 1709 in Jena), Justina Regina Wedel (* 1673; † 1697, married . with Joachim Seek), Johann Adolf Wedel (born August 17, 1675 in Jena; † February 23, 1747 ibid.), Sophia Maria Wedel, married. with Johann Ernst Faber (* Simmershausen; son of the pastor in Simmershausen, Mag.Thomas Andreas Faber), Christian Friedrich Wedel (* Jena, October 27, 1686 enrolled for free, ebs. May 2, 1695, candidate med. June 14, 1700 ), Regina Maria Wedel († 1715 in Jena). The second marriage took place on November 10, 1679, about 10 months after the death of the first wife. It was closed with the widow of Johann Christoph Neuberger, daughter of Justi Söffing, Margaretha Catharina, and was childless until her death in May 1707. On November 29, 1707, the third marriage between the widowed Sophia Catharina (daughter of Dr. Adolph Christian Schelhaß) was concluded. From this marriage, Johann Wolfgang (* November 4, 1708 in Jena; † July 11, 1757 ibid., Doctor of medicine and botanist in Jena), as well as Sophia Dorothea (* October 24, 1709), Catharina Elisabetha Wilhelmina (* 17. October 1711 - December 1730).

Publications

literature

Web links

Commons : Georg Wolfgang Wedel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Julius Pagel:  Wedel, Ernst Heinrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 41, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, p. 403.– Article on the son; treats the father too
  2. ↑ galileo.rice.edu
  3. ↑ a b c Wolfgang U. Eckart : Georg Wolfgang Wedel , in: Wolfgang U. Eckart and Christoph Gradmann (eds.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the present , 3rd edition 2006 Springer Verlag Heidelberg, Berlin, New York p. 339. Ärztelexikon 2006 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
personal data
SURNAME Wedel, Georg Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German medic and alchemist
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1645
PLACE OF BIRTH Golßen
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1721
Place of death Jena