Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp Friedrich Gmelin in 1748 in Tübingen. He studied medicine under his father[1] at University of Tübingen and graduated with a Master's degree in 1768, with a thesis entitled: Irritabilitatem vegetabilium, in singulis plantarum partibus exploratam ulterioribusque experimentis confirmatam, defended under the presidency of Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger,[2] 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 and is buried there in the Albani cemetery with his wife Rosine Louise Gmelin (1755–1828, née Schott).[citation needed]
Johann Friedrich Gmelin when young became a respected colleague of Carl Linnaeus, probably when Linnaeus was visiting the Netherlands or northern Germany around 1770, and collected plants "Persia" on his behalf.[3][4] Later in life he published several textbooks in the fields of chemistry, pharmaceutical science, mineralogy, and botany. He also edited and published the posthumous 13th edition of Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus from 1788 to 1793. 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[5] and also a number of butterfly species.[6]
Gmelin, Johann Friedrich; Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger (1768). Irritabilitatem vegetabilium, in singulis plantarum partibus exploratam ulterioribusque experimentis confirmatam. Thesis Tübingen. OCLC10717434.
Beyträge zur Geschichte des teutschen Bergbaus, 1783
Über die neuere Entdeckungen in der Lehre von der Luft, und deren Anwendung auf Arzneikunst, in Briefen an einen Arzt, von J. F. Gmelin, 1784
Grundsätze der technischen Chemie, 1786
Caroli a Linné, equitis aurati de stella polari, … Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima tertia, aucta, reformata, Lipsiae [Leipzig], Georg Emanuel Beer, 1788–1793
^Mainz, Vera V.; Gregory S. Girolami (1998). "Genealogy Database Entry: Gmelin, Johann Friedrich"(PDF). School of Chemical Sciences Web Genealogy. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
^Joseph Kastner, A world of naturalists, 1977, Alfred A Knopf, New York; page 35.
^Wilfrid Blunt, 1971 The Compleat Naturalist. A life of Linnaeus, Collins, London; page 190 letter of Linnaeus 20 December 1771 to John Ellis: "The younger Gmelin is still in Persia" "younger distinguishes him from his father Philipp Friedrich Gmelin, who had recently died
