Johann Jakob Scheuchzer

J. J. Scheuchzer in 1731, aged 59

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (2 August 1672 – 23 June 1733) was a Swiss physician and natural scientist born in Zürich. His most famous work was the Physica sacra in four volumes, which was a commentary on the Bible and included his view of the world, demonstrating a convergence of science and religion. It was richly illustrated with copperplate etchings and came to be called the Kupfer-Bibel or "Copper Bible".

Scheuchzer supported Biblical creation, but his support for Copernican heliocentrism forced him to print his works outside Switzerland. He also supported antecedent concepts of Neptunism and considered fossils as evidence for the Biblical deluge. A fossil from Ohningen that he identified as a human drowned by the Flood was later identified as a Miocene salamander which was named after him as Andrias scheuchzeri.


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