Valerius Cordus
| Valerius Cordus | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
February 18, 1515 Hesse or Erfurt |
| Died | September 25, 1544 (aged 29) Rome |
Valerius Cordus (February 18, 1515 – September 25, 1544) was a German physician and botanist who authored one of the greatest pharmacopoeias and one of the most celebrated herbals in history. He is also widely credited with developing a method for synthesizing ether (which he called by the poetic Latin name oleum dulci vitrioli, or "sweet oil of vitriol").
Cordus wrote prolifically, and identified and described several new plant species and varieties. The plant genus Cordia is named for him.
In 1515, Valerius Cordus was born either in the city of Erfurt in Thuringia, or somewhere in the westwardly adjacent state of Hesse. His father, Euricius Cordus (born Heinrich Ritze, 1486–1535), was an educated physician and an ardent Lutheran convert.
Valerius began his higher education in 1527, at the young age of 12, studying botany and pharmacy under the tutelage of his father. In the same year he also enrolled at the University of Marburg. He completed his bachelor's degree in 1531, whereupon he furthered his studies by enrolling in the University of Leipzig, and by working at an apothecary shop in Leipzig owned by his uncle (either Johannes or Joachim).
In 1539 he relocated to Wittenberg in order to lecture and study medicine at the University of Wittenberg. His lectures proved popular, and Cordus' lecture notes were published posthumously in 1549 as Annotations on Dioscorides. Among the research outlined in the lectures were the results of his own systematic observations of many of the same plants described by Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century CE. Direct observation of live specimens was one of Cordus' strengths.
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