Leonhart Fuchs

Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566) was a German physician and botanist whose pioneering work helped lay the foundation for modern botany. Educated in philosophy, languages, and medicine at Erfurt and Ingolstadt, he became a professor of medicine at the University of Tübingen, where he also established one of Europe’s earliest botanical gardens. Fuchs was a key figure of the Neo-Galenic tradition and is best remembered for his richly illustrated herbal De historia stirpium commentarii insignes (1542), which described hundreds of European and exotic plants, many for the first time. A tireless scholar, he published more than 50 works in his lifetime. His legacy lives on in the plant genus Fuchsia, named in his honor by Charles Plumier and later formalized by Carl Linnaeus.