Leonhard Thurneysser

Leonhard Thurneysser (1531 to 1595 or 1596), also Leonard Thurneisser zum Thurn, was a Swiss-German scholar and miracle doctor at the court of Elector John George of Brandenburg. Born in Basel, the son of a goldsmith, he learned the goldsmith's craft and developed an interest in mineralogy and alchemy, and as assistant to the medical professor John Huber he helped gather and prepare herbs and medicines and read the writings of Paracelsus. From 1547 he led a wandering life. In 1559 he worked as a metallurgist at Tarrenz in Tyrol and became the owner of a mine, and Emperor Ferdinand I and scholars such as Gerolamo Cardano regarded him as an expert in pharmacy, chemistry, metallurgy, botany, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. Journeys commissioned by Philippine Welser took him through the East and North Africa, where he collected minerals, plants and medicinal recipes. He then practised as a pharmaceutical doctor, lived in Münster from 1569 to 1570, and after healing the Elector's ailing wife became his personal physician in Berlin.