Johann Christian Senckenberg
Johann Christian Senckenberg (* February 28, 1707 in Frankfurt am Main, † November 15, 1772 ) was a German physician, founder, naturalist and botanist. In his honor, an asteroid was named in 2011: ( 207687 ) Senckenberg.
Life
Johann Christian Senckenberg was born on February 28, 1707 in Frankfurt Hasengasse to the world. He was the second eldest son of the Frankfurt city physician ( Physikus primarius ) Johann Hartmann Senckenberg ( 1655-1730 ) and his second wife Anna Margaretha nee space burger ( 1682-1740 ). He graduated first from 1730 with the help of a scholarship at the young Prussian University of Halle. During his three-semester stay his teachers have included Friedrich Hoffmann and Georg Ernst Stahl. In Hall, the dedicated Senckenberg was apparently drawn into theological disputes, which meant that he had to leave the city after three semesters, although he is said to have studied very hard. 1737 he received his doctorate at the Georg- August-Universität Göttingen about the healing power of lily of the valley in medicine, chaired Albrecht von Haller. Originally, he wanted to write a dissertation on the melancholy. Then Senckenberg began practicing in Frankfurt am Main.
After his mother's death Senckenberg married his first wife, who died of puerperal fever two years later. His second marriage ended soon with the death of the woman due to an illness from tuberculosis. Likewise, the children died from the two marriages. A third marriage ended after two years, since his wife died of cancer. Senckenberg remained thenceforth a widower.
Establishing the Foundation
After three marriages, he decided to make his fortune pro bono publico patriae available. On August 18, In 1763 he established the Dr. Senckenberg Foundation, whose goal it was, the Frankfurt Medizinalwesen, patient care and the training of physicians to improve. On the first acquired in 1766 Foundation site east of Eschenheim gate was built in the following years, a medical institute with library, laboratory chymicum, greenhouses and a Theatrum anatomicum, as well as the citizens Hospital. The Dr. Senckenberg Anatomy, which evolved from this anatomicum Theatrum so that is much older than the Founded in 1914, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. She is also one of the founding institutions of this University.
The Senckenberg Library is since 1 January 2005, merged with the "City and University Library Frankfurt" to the central library of the University of Frankfurt with the new name " University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg ".
Johann Christian Senckenberg himself did not live to see the completion of his civil hospital, he collapsed on November 15, 1772 death from the scaffolding of cupola of the hospital. Just two days later, his body was donated by him anatomicum in the Theatrum - publicly dissected - because of violent death. In his will, Senckenberg had rejected a dissection of his body.
This unexpected death did the project not good, the city used the public hospital as Verwahranstalt. Goethe criticized: The Foundation does not lack in material things, but in the intellect.
From the Senckenberg Foundation later including the Senckenberg Museum, and the Senckenberg Nature Research Society emerged.
The diaries Senckenberg
To date, wait 53 days Librams Senckenberg with a total of 40,000 pages waiting to be scientifically evaluated, but this is due to its barely legible handwriting, a mixture of German, Frankfurterisch, Latin, Greek, French and English as well as numerous own abbreviations as time extremely expensive. Since 2011, however, is a project of the Frankfurt University Library, where the fonts are stored, worked to bring 2016 first 13,000 diary pages from the years 1730 to 1742 in a now -readable form and make them available as digital copies online.