Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach

Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach (born October 14, 1748 in Bern ; † May 22, 1830 there ) was a Swiss Protestant (Reformed) theologian and naturalist.

Wyttenbach came from a respected family in Bern, attended the Latin school there and, from 1763, the Bern Academy, where he passed the philosophy examination in 1768 while also working as a private tutor. After studying theology, which he completed in 1772, he studied on a scholarship for two years in Lausanne . There he made contact with natural scientists through the mediation of the universal scholar Albrecht von Haller . In particular, his travels to the Alps began at this time with the painter Caspar Wolf . In 1775 he became a preacher at the Bürgerspital in Bern, where he found time to travel through the Alps, about which he reported, built up a natural history collection and translated scientific works. In 1776, for example, he published his travel description, Strange Prospectuses from the Swiss Citizens, and the same description with engravings after paintings by Caspar Wolf and a foreword by Albrecht von Haller.

In 1781 he became a helper, and after the death of his predecessor in 1783, he became a pastor at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Bern. In 1786 he was one of the founders of the Bern Natural Research Society and in 1815 of the Swiss Natural Research Society. He was also a co-founder of the Medical Institute in Bern in 1798, where he gave lectures on natural history. He was also a member of the physical-economic society in Bern. In 1816 he founded the Bern Bible Society to publish a new edition of the Bible translation by Johannes Piscator .

In his capacity as a naturalist, he was also a doctor and pharmacist. In the summer of 1802 he treated Heinrich von Kleist , who was seriously ill in Bern , who was on the Aare island near Thun at the time.

literature

• J. Harald Wäber, Marcel Güntert, Anna Jolly: “So that I can finally put an end to my wife's constant stops”. Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach (1748–1830) and his portrait from 1785 . In: Berner Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Heimatkunde , 65 (2003), pp. 109–149 ( online , PDF, 398 kB).
• Erich Wenneker :  Wyttenbach, Jakob Samuel. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 262-264.

Web links

• Literature by and about Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach in the catalog of the German National Library .
• Gerrendina Gerber-Visser: Wyttenbach, Jakob Samuel. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Website Naturhistorisches Museum Bern with a short biography and portrait.
• Jakob Samuel Wyttenbach: Strange brochures from the Swiss citizens and the same description. Bern 1776 ( see under Viatimages ).