Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion ...

, chemistry and

botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), 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 "bot ...

Biography

Selectarum Stirpium Americanarum Historia

Born in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Paris and afterward to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1752, he studied under

Gerard van Swieten Gerard van Swieten (7 May 1700 – 18 June 1772) was a Dutch physician who from 1745 was the personal physician of the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and transformed the Austrian health service and medical university education. He was the fat ...

in Vienna. Between 1755 and 1759, Jacquin was sent to the West Indies, Central America, Venezuela and New Granada by

Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe ...

to collect plants for the

Schönbrunn Palace Schönbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Schönbrunn ; Central Bavarian: ''Schloss Scheenbrunn'') was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its root ...

, and amassed a large collection of animal, plant and mineral samples. In 1797,

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...

profited from studying these collections and conversing with Jacquin in preparation of his own journey to the Americas. In 1763, Jacquin became professor of chemistry and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proce ...

at the Bergakademie Schemnitz (now

Banská Štiavnica Banská Štiavnica (; german: Schemnitz; hu, Selmecbánya (Selmec), ) is a town in central Slovakia, in the middle of an immense caldera created by the collapse of an ancient volcano. For its size, the caldera is known as the Štiavnica Mountai ...

in Slovakia). In 1768, he was appointed Professor of Botany and Chemistry and became director of the

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

s of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...

. For his work, he received the title ''

Edler Edler () was until 1919 the lowest rank of nobility in Austria-Hungary and Germany, just beneath a ''Ritter'' (hereditary knight), but above untitled nobles, who used only the nobiliary particle '' von'' before their surname. It was mostly given t ...

'' in 1774. In 1783, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1806, he was created a baron. In 1809, he became a correspondent of the Royal Institute, which later became the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

. His younger son, Emil Gottfried (1767–1792), and his daughter, Franziska (1769–1850), were friends of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

; Mozart wrote two songs for Gottfried to publish under Gottfried's name (" Als Luise ...", K. 520, and " Das Traumbild", K. 530) and gave piano lessons to Franziska. Mozart dedicated a considerable number of his works to the Jacquin family, notably the

Kegelstatt Trio The ''Kegelstatt Trio'', K. 498, is a piano trio for clarinet, viola and piano in E-flat major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. History Mozart wrote the piano trio on 10 sheets (19 pages) in Vienna and dated the manuscript on 5 August 1786. Accordin ...

. This was first played at the Jacquins' house in August 1786 with Franziska playing the piano. His son Joseph Franz (1766–1839) succeeded him as professor of botany and chemistry at the University of Vienna and wrote several notable botanical books. Von Jacquin died in Vienna. He is commemorated by the genera '' Jacquinia'' (

Theophrastaceae Theophrastoideae is a small subfamily of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. It was formerly recognized as a separate family Theophrastaceae. As previously circumscribed, the family consisted of eight genera and 95 species of trees or sh ...

) and '' Jacquiniella'' (

Orchidaceae 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 flowering ...

). In 2011, the Austrian Mint issued silver coins to mark his science expeditions to the Caribbean.

Publications

''Enumeratio systematica plantarum''
(1760)
''Enumeratio Stirpium Plerarumque''
(1762)
''Selectarum Stirpium Americanarum''
(1763) *''Observationum Botanicarum''

1764

1767

1768

1771)
''Hortus Botanicus Vindobonensis''
(3 volumes, 1770–1776) with plates by Franz Anton von Scheidel
''Florae Austriacae''
(5 volumes, 1773–1778)
''Icones Plantarum Rariorum''
(3 volumes, 1781–1793)
''Plantarum Rariorum Horti Caesarei Schoenbrunnensis''
(4 volumes, 1797–1804)
''Fragmenta Botanica 1804–1809''
(1809)
''Nicolai Josephi Jacquin collectaneorum supplementum ...''''Oxalis :Monographia iconibus illustrata''''Dreyhundert auserlesene amerikanische Gewächse nach linneischer Ordnung''
(with Zorn, Johannes) * ''Nikolaus Joseph Edlen von Jacquin's Anfangsgründe der medicinisch-practischen Chymie : zum Gebrauche seiner Vorlesungen'' . Wappler, Vienna 178
Digital edition
by the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (german: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of t ...

* ''Nikolaus Joseph Edlen von Jacquin's Anfangsgründe der medicinisch-practischen Chymie : zum Gebrauche seiner Vorlesungen'' . Wappler, Vienna, 2nd. ed. 178
Digital edition
by the

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacquin, Nikolaus Joseph von 1727 births 1817 deaths People from Leiden 18th-century Austrian botanists Austrian explorers Austrian mycologists Austrian ornithologists Barons of Austria Botanists active in North America Botanists active in the Caribbean Bryologists Dutch bryologists 18th-century Dutch botanists 18th-century Dutch chemists Dutch mycologists 18th-century Dutch naturalists Fellows of the Royal Society Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Phycologists Pteridologists