Nikolaus Oelhafen
Nikolaus Hieronymus Oelhafen , Polish Mikołaj Oelhaf , (born March 20, 1604 in Danzig ; † July 23, 1643 ibid) was a German doctor and botanist from Danzig. He is known for an early book on the flora around Gdansk.
Life
He was the son of the doctor Joachim Oelhafen (1570-1630), teacher of anatomy (he was the first to conduct public sections in Poland) at the Academic Gymnasium and founder of a botanical garden in Gdansk. Nikolaus Oelhafen studied medicine in Gdansk and Italy and became a doctor in Gdansk after receiving his doctorate in 1630. He was court physician to Władysław IV. Wasa and professor in Danzig.
His book on the flora of Danzig from 1643 deals with 310 types of plants, mainly medicinal plants. He used the Pinax theatri botanici (1623) by Gaspard Bauhin as a model. Revised new editions were obtained in Danzig in 1650 by Christian Mentzel (Centuria plantarum circa nobile Gedanum ad elenchum plantarum gedanensis dom. Nicolai Oelhafii) and in 1656 by Lorenz Eichstaedt (Elenchus plantarum et. C. D. Nicolai Oelhafii, denuo recensitus ac locupletatus a de quore ej praefatione).
In the foreword of his book, he advocates taking an interest not only in foreign plants, but also in native plants. In his work he also described the occurrence of the water nut , which was no longer at home there in the 19th century.
The book of Oelhafen is the first of its kind in Prussia, apart from mentions of herbs in the scientific treatises published by Bishop Johannes Wigand in 1590 , which were not of a high scientific standard. Oelhafen suggested other botanical publications, for example by Jakob Breyne from Danzig (Exoticarum aliumque minus cogitarum plantarum centura prima, 1678), Johannes Loesel , Jacob Theodor Klein and later Gottfried Reyger , who in 1764 again published a Flora von Danzig and already to Carl von Linné was oriented.
In 1637 he married Adelgunde Kneckerbart.
Fonts
- Elenchus plantarum circa nobile Borussorum Dantiscum sua sponte nascentium. Szczecin 1643
literature
- Hugo Conwentz : West Prussian botanists of the past, reports German Botanical Society, Volume 29, 1911, 6-15, online
Web links
- Information on the CERL website
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Oelhafen, Nikolaus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Oelhafen, Nikolaus Hieronymus (full name); Oelhaf, Mikołaj (Polish) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German doctor and botanist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 20, 1604 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Danzig |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 23, 1643 |
| Place of death | Danzig |