Johann Gottfried Zinn
Encyclopedia
Johann Gottfried Zinn (December 6, 1727 – April 6, 1759) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 anatomist
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

 and botanist member of the Berlin Academy.

Biography

Johann Gottfried Zinn was born in Schwabach
Schwabach
Schwabach is a German town of about 40,000 inhabitants near Nuremberg, in the center of the region of Franconia in the North of Bavaria. The city is an autonomous administrative district . Schwabach is also the name of a river which runs through the city prior joining the Rednitz.Schwabach is...

.
Considering his short life span, Zinn made a great contribution to the study of anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

. In his book Descriptio anatomica oculi humani, he provided the first detailed and comprehensive anatomy of the human eye.

In addition to his medical career, Zinn was also an ardent botanist. In 1750, the German Ambassador to Mexico sent Zinn some seeds of mal de ojos, which was considered a weed in Mexico, but the plant briefly aroused interest in Germany.

In 1753 Johann Gottfried Zinn became director of the Botanic garden of the University of Göttingen
Georg-August University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen , known informally as Georgia Augusta, is a university in the city of Göttingen, Germany.Founded in 1734 by King George II of Great Britain and the Elector of Hanover, it opened for classes in 1737. The University of Göttingen soon grew in size and popularity...

, and in 1755, professor in the medical faculty.

In 1757 Zinn described the orchid genus Epipactis
Epipactis
Epipactis, or Helleborine, is a genus of terrestrial orchids consisting of approximately 70 species. This genus is abbreviated as Epcts in horticultural trade.They occur in temperate and subtropical climates of America, Asia, and Europe...

that belongs to the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Orchidaceae
Orchidaceae
The Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. Along with the Asteraceae, it is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,...

.

He died in Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

.

Eponyms

Botanist Carolus Linnaeus
Carolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

 designated a genus of flowers in the family Asteraceae
Asteraceae
The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

 native from Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 as Zinnia
Zinnia
Zinnia is a genus of 20 species of annual and perennial plants of family Asteraceae, originally from scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the American Southwest to South America, but primarily Mexico, and notable for their solitary long-stemmed flowers that come in a variety of bright...

in his honour. Zinnia was introduced to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 in 1613

He coined the anatomic terms:
  • Zonula ciliaris Zinnii, now called Zonule of Zinn
    Zonule of Zinn
    The zonule of Zinn is a ring of fibrous strands connecting the ciliary body with the crystalline lens of the eye....

  • Circulus arteriosus sclerae also known as Annulus of Zinn
    Annulus of Zinn
    The annulus of Zinn, also known as the annular tendon or common tendinous ring, is a ring of fibrous tissue surrounding the optic nerve at its entrance at the apex of the orbit. It is the origin for five of the six extraocular muscles...

    (or Circle of Zinn).

Works

  • A description of the flora around Göttingen 1753.
  • Descriptio anatomica oculi humani iconibus illustrata 1765.
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