Jacob Christian Schäffer

Jakob or Jacob Christian Gottlieb Schäffer or Schäffern (30 May 1718 – 5 January 1790) was a German dean, professor, botanist, mycologist, entomologist, ornithologist and inventor.^[1]

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Biography

Schäffer began his studies with the Poeticum college. From 1736 to 1738 he studied theology at the university of Halle before becoming a teacher in Ratisbon. In 1741, he became an extraordinary professor; in 1760, the university of Wittenberg gave him the title of Doctor of Philosophy and the university Eberhard-Karls de Tübingen awarded him the title of Doctor of Divinity. In 1779, he became the leader of the evangelic "municipality" and Pasteur in Ratisbon.

Works

  In 1759, Schäffer published Erleichterte Artzney-Kräuterwissenschaft, a handbook of botany and the medicinal effects of plants for doctors and pharmacists. From 1762 to 1764, he wrote four richly illustrated volumes on mycology, Natürlich ausgemahlten Abbildungen baierischer und pfälzischer Schwämme, welche um Regensburg wachsen. In 1774, he wrote Elementa Ornithologica, in which he proposed a system of classification of the birds based on the structure of their legs. This work was followed by Museum Ornithologicum in 1789, in which he described the birds in his collection. In 1779, Schäffer published the three-volume work Icones insectorum circa ratisbonam indigenorum coloribus naturam referentibus expressae, which included 280 hand-coloured plates of copper engravings, illustrating approximately 3,000 insects. An introduction to entomology, Elementa entomologica, followed in 1789.

Other Achievements

Schäffer organized a rich personal cabinet of curiosities, the Schaefferianum Museum, opened to the public and which Goethe (1749-1832) visited in 1786 at the time of the “voyage” which led him to Italy. He was a member of many learned societies such as those of Göttingen, Mannheim, Saint-Petersburg, London, Uppsala, etc. He was a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences (Academy of Science) of Paris and joined, in 1757, the Kaiserlich-Carolinische Akademie der Naturforscher, and two years later he took part in the foundation of the Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Schäffer maintained a correspondence with many naturalists including Carl von Linné (1707-1778) and Rene-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683-1757). Natural history was not the only field which interested him. He conducted experiments on electricity, colours, and optics. (He remains famous for his manufacture of prisms and lenses). He invented an early washing machine, for which he published designs in 1767: Die bequeme und höchstvortheilhafte Waschmaschine. His other inventions included a saw, furnaces, etc. The paper industry also interested him and between 1765 to 1771 the results of his observations and experiments were published as Versuche und Muster, ohne alle Lumpen oder doch put einem geringen Zusatze derselben, Papier zu machen. It discussed in particular the manufacture of paper using various plants such as the poplar, moss, hop etc, which may not have been used by the paper pulp manufacturers without his experimental work.

References