Andreas Libavius

Andreas Libavius (1555 – July 25, 1616) was a German doctor and chemist. Libavius was born in Halle, Germany, as Andreas Libau. In Halle he attended the gymnasium and studied from the year 1576 in University of Wittenberg. From 1577 on he studied in the University of Jena in the faculties of philosophy and history. He obtained there the academic degree of "magister artium". Additionaly he attended also the lectures of medicine faculty there.

He worked at first as a teacher from the year 1581 in Ilmenau and from 1586 in Coburg. In 1588 he went to Basel and was promoted to the degree of "medicinae doctor" and in the same year became a professor of history and poetics in Jena. At the same time he also supervised the disputations in the field of medicine. In 1597, he wrote the first systematic chemistry textbook, "Alchemia", which included instructions for the preparation of several strong acids. Some of his writings were published under the name Basilius de Varna. Libavius died in Coburg where he held the position of the rector of the Gymnasium Casimirianum.

References

*cite journal |title= Laboratory Design and the Aim of Science: Andreas Libavius versus Tycho Brahe
author= Owen Hannaway
journal= Isis
volume= 77
year= 1986
pages= 584–610 |doi= 10.1086/354267

Resources

* [http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Catalog/Files/libavius.html Rice University article]
* [http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/exhibit/libavius.htm Indiana University article]