Leonhard Thurneysser

Leonard Thurneysser
Leonard Thurneysser
Born	(1531-07-22)22 July 1531 Basel
Died	1595 or 1596 Cologne
Fields	pharmacy, chemistry, metallurgy, botany, mathematics, astronomy, medicine

Leonard Thurneysser (22 July 1531 – 1595 or 1596; also known as Leonard Thurneisser zum Thurn) was a scholar and miracle doctor at the court of Elector John George of Brandenburg.

Thurneysser was born in Basel, the son of a goldsmith. He learned the goldsmith's craft and developed an interest in the mineralogy and alchemy. He also served the Medical Professor John Huber as Famulus and helped to gather and prepare herbs and medicines. He later used this knowledge in his book Historia. While he worked with Huber, Thurneysser also had access to the writings of Paracelsus, which impressed him deeply.

From 1547 led Leonhard Thurneysser a until he married in 1555 in his native Basel. He was a member of the "guild of the household" (money changers and goldsmiths). However Thurneysser 1558 went back on tour.

In 1559 he operated successfully as a metallurgist in Tarrenz in Tyrol and became the owner of a mine. Soon Thurneysser was considered by Emperor Ferdinand I and his sons, as well as personalities such as scholars Pietro Paolo Vergerio and Gerolamo Cardano and others as an expert in the areas of the Pharmaceutical, chemistry, metallurgy, botany, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Philippine Welser, the wife of Ferdinand II of Habsburg, Archduke of Tyrol commissioned Thurneysser to make more journeys, including through the East and North Africa. He collected minerals, plants and medicinal recipes. After these journeys, he no longer saw himself as a metallurgist, but he practiced as a pharmaceutical doctor.