Christian Ehrenfried von Weigel (24 May 1748 – 8 August 1831) was a Swedish-born German

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

and, beginning in 1774, a professor of chemistry, pharmacy,

botany 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 w ...

, and mineralogy at the

University of Greifswald The University of Greifswald (; german: Universität Greifswald), formerly also known as “Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald“, is a public research university located in Greifswald, Germany, in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pom ...

Biography

Born in Stralsund, in 1771 he received his medical doctorate from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, having studied under Johann Christian Erxleben. In 1806, Weigel was

ennobled Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteri ...

and carried from then on a '' von'' in his name. He became the personal physician of the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

royal house two years later. Among other things, Weigel developed a cooling heat exchanger (German ) (1771), which was later improved upon by Justus von Liebig and then became known as the

Liebig condenser The Liebig condenser (, ) or straight condenser is a piece of laboratory equipment, specifically a condenser consisting of a straight glass tube surrounded by a water jacket. In typical laboratory operation, such as distillation, the condenser ...

(). Furthermore, the

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both conti ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Weigela ''Weigela'' is a genus of between six and 38 speciesAll of the species listed in the 'Selected species' section are accepted by The Plant List, but most are still under review, and therefore subject to changes in status. of deciduous shrubs in ...

'' is named after him. In 1792, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

References

External links

Weigel biography
* * * * * 1748 births 1831 deaths Pteridologists Botanists with author abbreviations 18th-century German botanists 18th-century German chemists German mycologists German untitled nobility People from Stralsund People from Swedish Pomerania University of Greifswald faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences University of Göttingen alumni 19th-century German chemists {{Germany-botanist-stub