Johann Friedrich Gmelin


Johann Friedrich Gmelin was a German naturalist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist.

Education

Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp Friedrich Gmelin in 1748 in Tübingen. He studied medicine under his father at University of Tübingen and graduated with an MD in 1768, with a thesis entitled: Irritabilitatem vegetabilium, in singulis plantarum partibus exploratam ulterioribusque experimentis confirmatam., defended under the presidency of Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger, whom he thanks with the words Patrono et praeceptore in aeternum pie devenerando, pro summis in medicina obtinendis honoribus.

Career

In 1769, Gmelin became an adjunct professor of medicine at University of Tübingen. In 1773, he became professor of philosophy and adjunct professor of medicine at University of Göttingen. He was promoted to full professor of medicine and professor of chemistry, botany, and mineralogy in 1778. He died in 1804 in Göttingen.
Johann Friedrich Gmelin published several textbooks in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceutical science, mineralogy, and botany. He also published the 13th edition of Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus in 1788 and 1789. This contained descriptions and scientific names of many new species, including birds that had earlier been catalogued without a scientific name by John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. Gmelin's publication is cited as the authority for over 290 bird species and also a number of butterfly species.

Legacy

Among his students were Georg Friedrich Hildebrandt, Carl Friedrich Kielmeyer, Friedrich Stromeyer, and Wilhelm August Lampadius. He was the father of Leopold Gmelin.
He described the redfin pickerel in 1789. In the scientific field of herpetology, he described many new species of amphibians and reptiles. In the field of malacology, he described and named many species of gastropods.
The abbreviation "Gmel." is also found.

Publications