Georg Andreas Helwing ( pl, Jerzy Andrzej Helwing) (14 December 1666 – 3 January 1748) was a

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

. Helwing was born in Angerburg (Węgorzewo) in

Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohe ...

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

. He became a "remote member" of the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...

on 31 August 1709. Helwing discovered and introduced several plants: '' Helwingia'' is named after him. He became known as the ''Tournefortius Borussicus'' and ''Prussian Plinius''. In 1999, the

University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn The University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn was established on 1 September 1999, in accordance with the new Statute of Sejm signed by Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, as well as Minister of Education Mirosław Handke, in August of t ...

was founded with reference to him. It has been suggested that Georg Andreas Helwing was the inspiration for the character

Abraham Van Helsing Professor Abraham Van Helsing, a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel '' Dracula'', is an aged Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows h ...

in Bram Stoker's famous novel ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...

''.

Works

Helwing, Georg Andrea – Flora quasimodogenita, 1712 – BEIC 6925666

* ** ''Flora Quasimodogenita. Gedani.'' Leipzig 1713 ** * ''Lithographia Angerburgica, P.I. Regiom.'' 1717, Leipzig 1720 * ''Flora Campana.'' Leipzig 1720

References and external links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20070622050859/http://www.bbaw.de/archivbbaw/akademiemitglieder/vorgaengermitglieder_h.html *http://www.litdok.de/cgi-bin/litdok?lang=de&t_idn=yp07560 1666 births 1748 deaths People from the Duchy of Prussia People from Węgorzewo 18th-century German botanists 18th-century German Lutheran clergy 17th-century German botanists {{Germany-botanist-stub