Johann Theodor Eller (von Brockhausen) (29 November 1689 – 13 September 1760) was a German physician, mineralogist and chemist who served in the Prussian court. Eller followed the beliefs of the day that heat was an element.
Lavoisier
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( , ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), CNRS (
Plötzkau
Plötzkau is a municipality in the district of Salzlandkreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Ru ...
, son of Jobst Hermann Eller, a military officer who had served under the Prince of Anhalt before becoming a justice of peace and an innkeeper. His mother was from a noble family of
Livonia
Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...
. Tutored initially at home, he was then educated in law at the
Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...
gymnasium he went on to study at Jena University in 1709 where he shifted to medicine under G. W. Wedel and H. F. Teichmeyer. He then went to study anatomy in Halle, Leiden (1711) and Amsterdam, studying under the anatomists
Frederik Ruysch
Frederik Ruysch (; March 28, 1638 – February 22, 1731) was a Dutch botany, botanist and anatomy, anatomist. He is known for developing techniques for preserving anatomical specimens, which he used to create dioramas or scenes incorporating hum ...
and
Johannes Jacobus Rau
Johann Jakob Rau Latinized as Johannes Jacobus Rau (with the variants Rouw or Ravius) (1668 – 18 September 1719) was a Dutch surgeon and anatomist who made advances in lithotomy or the treatment of urinary stones.
Rau was born in Baden-Baden, to ...
. He received his MD from Leiden in 1716. He followed Rau to Leiden and served as a dissector until 1716. He began then to study mineralogy and chemistry in Paris under Grosse, Boulduc, and Lemery. In 1720 he visited London and met the scientists of the day including
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
. He worked in A. G. Hanckewitz's laboratory before returning to Germany. In 1721 he became a court physician at Anhalt-Bernberg possibly due to the influence of
Georg Ernst Stahl
Georg Ernst Stahl (22 October 1659 – 24 May 1734) was a German chemist, physician and philosopher. He was a supporter of vitalism, and until the late 18th century his works on phlogiston were accepted as an explanation for chemical processes.Ku ...
(1724-1734). Two years later he became a professor of anatomy in Berlin. From 1727 to 1735 he was also director of the Berlin's Charité Hospital. In 1740 he became personal physician to
Frederick the Great
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
. In 1753 he argued with his colleague
Johann Heinrich Pott Johann Heinrich Pott (6 October 1692 – 29 March 1777) was a Prussian physician and chemist. He is considered a pioneer of pyrochemistry. He examined the elements bismuth and manganese apart from attempting improvements to glass and porcelain prod ...
who wished for a position to be filled by his son-in-law. The position was taken by Brandes, a student of Eller. A public confrontation between Pott and Eller followed.
Eller married Catherine Elizabeth Burckhard (d. 1751) in 1721 and after in 1753 he married Henrietta Catherine Rosen.
Eller published two books:
* Catalogus rerum mineralium et metallicarum (1723)
* Nützliche und auserlesene medicinische und chirurgische Anmerkungen so wohl von innerlichen als auch äußerlichen Krankheiten, und bey selbigen zum Theil verrichteten Operationen, Welche bishero in dem von Sr. Königl. Majestät in Preußen gestifteten großen Lazareth der Charité zu Berlin, vorgefallen; Nebst einer vorangegebnen kurtzen Beschreibung der Stiftung, Anwachs und jetzigen Beschaffenheit dieses Hauses (1730)