Johann Jakob Wepfer

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Engraving of Johann Jakob Wepfer

Johann Jakob Wepfer (December 23, 1620 – January 26, 1695) was a Swiss

pharmacologist who was a native of Schaffhausen
.

He studied medicine in Strasbourg, Basel and Padua, and in 1647 returned to Schaffhausen to practice medicine. Here he maintained a practice that extended into southern Germany. During his career he also served as a private physician and consultant to various members of royalty.

Wepfer is remembered for his work involving

carotid
and vertebral arteries that supply the brain with blood. in 1658 he published a classic treatise on strokes, titled Historiae apoplecticorum.

Wepfer made important contributions in the fields of experimental

poison hemlock called Cicutae aquaticae historia et noxae (1679).[2] This contained the first reports of toxicity of plants from the genus Cicuta, ultimately attributed to compounds such as cicutoxin and oenanthotoxin.[3] Since 2005, an annual award for stroke research named after Wepfer has been awarded at the European stroke conference.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Essays in the history of therapeutics by William F. Bynum, et al
  2. ^ viaLibri Archived 2011-07-24 at the Wayback Machine Resources for Bibliophiles
  3. .
  4. ^ "The "Johann Jacob Wepfer Award"". Archived from the original on May 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  5. PMID 18724046
    .