Bauhin, Gaspard Casper (1560–1624)

Swiss botanist and physician who developed an important early plant classification system. In Pinax theatri botanica/Illustrated Exposition of Plants 1623, he attempted to classify all known species of plant, naming 6,000 species.

Bauhin's classification system was used by both Linnaeus and John Ray, and was to some extent based upon the system which the Italian Andrea Cesalpino had outlined earlier in the 16th century. Bauhin also wrote several textbooks of human anatomy, including Theatrum anatomicum 1605.

Bauhin was born in Basel, Switzerland and studied medicine at the University of Padua in Italy 1577–88, where he was a student of Fabricius ab Aquapendente. He then returned to the University of Basel, where he obtained his MD 1581. He was appointed professor of Greek the following year, professor of anatomy and botany 1588, and professor of medicine 1614. Bauhin died in Basel.