Johann Gottfried Zinn () (December 6, 1727 – April 6, 1759) was a German

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

and botanist and was a member of the Berlin Academy.

Biography

Johann Gottfried Zinn was born in

Schwabach Schwabach () is a German city of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg in the centre of the region of Franconia in the north of Bavaria. The city is an autonomous administrative district (''kreisfreie Stadt''). Schwabach is also the name of th ...

. Considering his short life span, Zinn made a great contribution to the study of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...

. In his book ''Descriptio anatomica oculi humani'', he provided the first detailed and comprehensive anatomy of the human eye. In 1753 Johann Gottfried Zinn became director of the Botanic garden of 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 ...

, and in 1755, professor in the medical faculty. In 1757 Zinn described the

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

genus '' Epipactis'' that belongs to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Orchidaceae. He died in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

Eponyms

Botanist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

designated a genus of flowers in the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

native from

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

as '' Zinnia'' in his honour. He coined the anatomic terms: * ''Zonula ciliaris Zinnii'', now called ''

Zonule of Zinn The zonule of Zinn () (Zinn's membrane, ciliary zonule) (after Johann Gottfried Zinn) is a ring of fibrous strands forming a zonule (little band) that connects the ciliary body with the crystalline lens of the eye. These fibers are sometimes coll ...

'' * ''Anulus tendineus communis'' also known as '' Annulus of Zinn'' (or ''Circle of Zinn'').

Works

* ''A description of the flora around Göttingen'' 1753. * ''Descriptio anatomica oculi humani iconibus illustrata'' 1765.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinn, Johann Gottfried 1727 births 1759 deaths 18th-century German botanists Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences People from Schwabach People from the Principality of Ansbach Academic staff of the University of Göttingen