Johann Baptist Andreas Ritter von Scherer (24 June 1755 – 10 April 1844) was an Austrian chemist and botanist.

Scherer was born in Prague. He studied chemistry at the universities of Prague and Vienna, receiving his doctorate in 1782. As a student his instructors included botanists Joseph Gottfried Mikan and Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin.[1] In 1797 he became a professor of chemistry at the Theresianum in Vienna, followed by a professorship at the Polytechnic Institute in Prague (from 1803). From 1807 to 1834 he was a professor of specialized natural history at the University of Vienna.[2]

In 1811 he was elevated to the status of "Ritter" (title of nobility). From 1832 he was an editor of the Österreichischen medizinischen Jahrbücher.[2] He died in Vienna.

Selected works

• Eudiometria sive methodus aeris atmosphaerici puritatem salubritatemve examinandi, 1782 (dissertation thesis).
• Geschichte der Luftgüteprüfungslehre für Aerzte und Naturfreunde, 1785 – History of air quality testing for physicians and lovers of nature.
• Versuche mit Pflanzen, 1786 (translation of Jan Ingenhousz' plant experiments).
• Beobachtungen und Versuche über das pflanzenaehnliche Wesen in den warmen Karlsbader und Toeplitzer Waessern in Boehmen, 1787 – Observations and experiments on plant-like entities in the warm waters of Karlsbad and Töplitz in Bohemia.
• Versuch einer neuen Nomenclatur für Deutsche Chymisten (with Christian Friedrich Wappler), 1792 – Essay on a new nomenclature for German chemists.
• Beweis, dass Johann Mayow von hundert Jahren den Grund zur antiphlogistischen Chemie und Physiologie gelegt hat, 1793 – Evidence that John Mayow had laid the foundation for anti-phlogiston chemistry and physiology 100 years ago.[2][3]

References