Johann Christoph Ettner
Johann Christoph Ettner was a notable German physician, alchemist, and writer, born in 1654 in Glogau, a region that is now part of Poland. He pursued his studies at the University of Leipzig, earning a doctorate in medicine in 1674, with a dissertation that explored the debate surrounding the heart versus the brain in relation to human emotions and motivations. Although the details of his life after graduation are limited, it is believed that he married Magdalena Thielisch around 1689, enhancing his already comfortable lifestyle.
In 1697, Ettner published a novel in the German Baroque style, which examined the importance of anatomical knowledge in shaping the ideal physician. He also authored eight volumes dedicated to alchemy. His works, including the aforementioned novel and various writings in medical journals, gained popularity during his lifetime but largely fell into obscurity until rediscovered in the 1980s. Scholars have since highlighted how his writings provide valuable insights into the social structure of 17th-century Germany and the everyday lives of its people. Ettner passed away in 1724 at the age of seventy, leaving behind a legacy that intertwines medicine, literature, and alchemical thought.
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Johann Christoph Ettner
Writer
- Born: March 15, 1654
- Birthplace: Glogau, Silesia (now in Poland)
- Died: December 22, 1724
Biography
Johann Christoph Ettner was a German physician, alchemist, and writer who was born in 1654 in Glogau, which was part of Silesia at the time and is now a part of Poland. In 1670 he began attending the University of Leipzig, where he studied medicine and philosophy. Ettner graduated in 1674 with a doctorate in medicine; his compelling dissertation focused on the controversy of which body part, the heart or the brain, played a more important role in human emotion and motivation. The years following his graduation are scantily documented, but scholars believe that he married a wealthy woman named Magdalena Thielisch around 1689, and she added on to his already affluent and comfortable lifestyle. In 1697, Ettner published a novel in the German Baroque style that focused on the role of anatomical practice in the conception of the ideal doctor. Ettner also wrote eight volumes on alchemy.
Curiously, Ettner’s writings in various medical journals, his novel, and several other novels written in the political format of the era were very popular in their time but did not resurface until the 1980’s, when they were dug up by researchers. These scholars remarked on how lesser details of the novel, such as social chatter, shed a tremendous amount of light on class structure in seventeenth century Germany and on the lives of regular people. Ettner died in 1724 at the age of seventy; little is known about the personal aspects of his life.