Valerius Cordus

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Valerius Cordus (18 February 1515 – 25 September 1544) was a German physician and botanist who authored one of the greatest pharmacopoeias and one of the most celebrated herbals in history. He is also widely credited with having pioneered a method for synthesizing ether (which he called oleum dulci vitrioli, or "sweet oil of vitriol"). Cordus wrote prolifically, and also identified and described several new plant species. The plant genus Cordia is named for him.

The son of an ardent Lutheran convert, Valerius Cordus was born either in Hesse or Erfurt. He began his higher education in 1527, at the young age of 12, studying botany and pharmacy under the tutelage of his father, Professor Euricius Cordus, M.D. In the same year he also enrolled at the University of Marburg; he completed his bachelor's degree in 1531. From then until 1539, he furthered his studies by working at an apothecary shop owned by his uncle (either Johannes or Joachim) in Leipzig, and enrolling in the University of Leipzig.

In 1539 he relocated to the University of Wittenberg, where he lectured and studied medicine. His lectures proved popular, and Cordus' lecture notes were published posthumously in 1549 as Annotations on Dioscorides. Among the research outlined in the lectures were the results of his own systematic observations of many of the same plants described by Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century CE. Direct observation of live specimens was one of Cordus' strengths.

In 1540 Cordus discovered and described a revolutionary technique for synthesizing ether, which involved adding sulfuric acid to ethyl alcohol. It has been suggested that he may have learned the method from Portuguese Explorers who brought the knowledge from the Middle East.

In 1542 he began travelling back and forth between Germany and Italy for his research and studies, and also presented his great pharmacopoeia, Dispensatorium, to the Nuremberg city council. The council presented him with 100 gold guilders following the presentation, and published the work posthumously as a book in 1546.

The University of Wittenberg awarded him a medical degree in 1544, the same year that his great herbal in five volumes, Historia Plantarum, was published—a work unique at the time for its balanced analysis of interest not only to botanists, but to pharmacists and herbalists as well.

Later that same year, at the age of 29, Cordus died of malaria while in Rome. Throughout his short life, Valerius travelled extensively, visited many universities, and was widely acclaimed by his colleagues and other associates. He was an impressive linguist, and also spoke eloquently on philosophy. As a botanist, he observed with a breadth and depth that surpassed most of his contemporaries; as a scientist, his methodology was systematic and thorough.

After the death of Valerius Cordus, Conrad Gessner published a considerable amount of Cordus' remaining unpublished work, including De Extractione (which featured Cordus' ether synthesis method) and Historia Stirpium et Sylva in 1561.