# Johann Michael Fehr

Johann Michael Fehr (9 May 1610 – 15 November 1688) was a German doctor, botanist and scientist who is known for being one of the four founding members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
Born in Kitzingen, Fehr studied medicine at several universities, including the University of Padua, where he earned his doctorate in 1641. He co-founded the Leopoldina in 1652, and served as its second president, during which time the academy received official recognition from Leopold I in 1672. Fehr also worked as a doctor in Schweinfurt and briefly served as its mayor before his death in 1688.

## Early life and education

Johann Michael Fehr was born on 9 May 1610, in Kitzingen, to Michael Fehr and his wife Margarete (née Martin). His father had been a Hospitalmeister (transl. health care official) in Dettelbach, but relocated to Kitzingen on the order of Johann Febrius, a high-ranking member of the local governing council, due to the ongoing Counter-Reformation. There, Fehr was born and later baptized.
After the death of his father on 20 September 1618, he was educated for seven years at a margravial Gymnasium under Johann Georg Hochstater. But once again due to the Counter-Reformation, the family relocated to Schweinfurt where he was further educated at a Lateinschule from 1629 to 1632. In 1633, he completed a Triennium academicum (transl. academic period of three years) in medicine at the universities of Leipzig, Jena and Wittenberg.
Following this, Fehr practiced with the electoral Saxon personal physician Johann Ruprecht Sulzberger in Dresden. He then furthered his studies at the University of Altdorf under Ludwig Jungermann. Afterwards he completed his studies at the University of Padua on 16 February 1641, where he was promoted to Dr. med. et phil under Johann Vesling, before returning to Schweinfurt to work as a doctor and conduct botanical studies.
Fehr was first married to Maria Barbara, daughter of a Schweinfurt councillor, which resulted in seven children including Johann Lorenz Fehr [de]. After her death in 1658, he married Anna Maria, also daughter of a councillor, resulting in a further seven children including Johann Caspar Fehr [de].

## Career and later life

On 1 January 1652, alongside his doctor colleagues Johann Lorenz Bausch, Georg Balthasar Metzger and Georg Balthasar Wohlfahrt, he founded the Academia Naturae Curiosorum which would later be known as the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. After Bausch's death in 1665, Fehr was elected as the second president of Leopoldina, and later in 1666, took over Bausch's position as city physician of Schweinfurt.
As president, he chose the cognomen Argonauta I. and, according to Leopoldina, was influenced by the political and social revolution during that time. Eventually, the academy gained public recognition leading to official recognition as an academy by Leopold I in 1672, by confirming their statutes. According to the Academy, this served as an important milestone for further development. That same year he was also appointed as Reichsvogt of Schweinfurt.
After Fehr suffered a stroke on 3 June 1686, he retired from his position as president of Leopoldina, and in the same year, was named as the personal physician to Leopold I. Fehr continued his work as a doctor in Schweinfurt after his presidency, and served as mayor in 1688, until his death at the age of 78 on 15 November 1688. He was later buried at the now destroyed Paulinerkirche in Leipzig.

## Selected works

* Anchora sacra vel Scorzonera (transl. Sacred Anchor or Scorzonera) (1666)
* Hiera picra seu analecta de absynthio (transl. Bitter Remedy or Extracts about Wormwood.) (1667)