Fuchs, Leonhart

1. Dates

Born: Wemding, Germany, 17 Jan 1501

Died: Tübingen, 10 May 1566

Dateinfo: Dates Certain

Lifespan: 65

2. Father

Occupation: Magistrate

His father, Hans Fuchs, was Burgermeister of Wemding. He died when Leonhart was four years old. (I am far from certain that Governmental Position is the correct category for the father.)

His grandfather, also a Burgermeister of Wemding (presumably before Hans), brought him up.

No information on financial status.

3. Nationality

Birth: Wemding, Germany

Career: Germany

Death: Tuebingen, Germany

4. Education

Schooling: Erfuhrt; Ingolstadt,, M.A., M.D.

1511, he was sent to Heilbronn to prepare for university.

1512, transferred to the Marienschule, Erfurt.

1515, entered the University of Erfurt, received his B.A. after three semesters, in 1517.

1519, enrolled at Ingolstadt, received his M.A. in 1521. He continued on at Ingolstadt, switching to medicine, and received his M.D. in 1524.

5. Religion

Affiliation: Catholic, Lutheran

He must have been Catholic first. It is not clear when he converted, but is thought to have been early. He read Lutheran writings while a student at Ingolstadt.

Fuchs was a dedicated Lutheran and experienced some friction with the Zwinglists at Tuebingen (Duke Ulrich among them).

6. Scientific Disciplines

Primary: Botany, Pharmacology, Medicine

7. Means of Support

Primary: Medicine, Academia

Secondary: Schoolmastering, Patronage

1517-1519, opened a prosperous school at Wemding.

1524-1526, practiced medicine in Munich.

1526-1528. Professor of Medicine at the University of Ingolstadt.

1528-1535, court physician to Georg von Brandenburg, Margrave of Ansbach at a salary of 50 gulden.

1533, he received another appointment at Ingolstadt, but religious opposition prevented him from assuming it.

1535-1566, Professor of Medicine at Tuebingen, practicing medicine as well. He was elected rector in 1536 1540, and five other times as well.

8. Patronage

Types: Court Official, Government Official, Eccesiastic Official

He was court physician to Georg von Brandenburg, Margrave of Ansbach, partly because of the plans the Margrave had to found a university. At the center of these plans was the chancellor Georg Vogler. When these plans fell through, Fuchs moved on, but returned after religious opposition prevented him from keeping the position at Ingolstadt (see above).

When he returned to Ingolstadt, there was a religious examination (Untersuchung), from which he escaped only with the intervention of the Bavarian chancellor Leonhard von Eck.

Duke Ullrich of Wuerttemberg called him to Tuebingen. This call was probably due to Melanchton, who was originally to reorganize Tuebingen, and who had corresponded with Fuchs since 1532. After the Duke had called him, Fuchs dedicated Paradoxa medicina (1534) to the Duke.

In 1548, he declined an offer from Duke Cosimo de' Medici, who, at Vesalius's suggestion, wanted to attract Fuchs to be the director of a new botanical garden in Pisa. Fuchs dedicated a book to Cosimo de' Medici in 1548.

Fuchs had corresponded with the brother of Margrave Georg duke Albrecht of Prussia, and when Fuchs was considering leaving Tuebingen in 1537, Albrecht asked Fuchs if he could recommend him as personal physician to his brother-in-law, King Christian III of Denmark. Because of the possibility of receiving the chair in medicine at the newly-founded protestant university in Denmark, Fuchs gave Albrecht permission to start negotiations, but withdrew from consideration after a few months. Perhaps Fuchs wanted to serve Albrecht instead, and had some idea of Albrecht's plans to found the university of Koenigsberg (which he did in 1544).

9. Technological Involvement

Types: Medical Practice, Pharmacology

He practiced medicine concurrently with his professorial position, and gained wide-spread acclaim for his treatment of the epidemic of 1529.

10. Scientific Societies

Memberships: None

Connections: he worked closely with Joachim Camerarius.

Sources

1. Gernot Rath, Neue deutsche Biographie (Berlin, 1952- ) 5, 681b- 682b.
2. Eberhard Steubler, Leonhart Fuchs... (Munich, 1928).

Compiled by:

Richard S. Westfall

Department of History and Philosophy of Science

Indiana University

Note: the creators of the Galileo Project and this catalogue cannot answer email on geneological questions.