1501-1566

German Physician and Botanist

Leonhard Fuchs is considered one of the "fathers" of German botany because of his book on plants called De historia stirpium. Published in 1542, it contains over 500 illustrations that accurately portray a wide variety of plants, most of which were useful in medicine. The book is particularly noteworthy because Fuchs chose superior artists to illustrate his text, which was both scholarly and accurate.

Fuchs was born in Wemding in the Bavarian region of Germany in 1501 and attended German universities, receiving his doctorate from the University of Ingolstadt in 1524. He briefly practiced medicine in Munich, and then went back to Ingolstadt in 1526 to teach medicine. Two years later be became court physician to the Margrave Georg von Brandenburg, returning to teach at Ingolstadt in 1533. But his travels were not over. Becoming a Lutheran, he had to leave the Catholic town of Ingolstadt for...