Gmelin, Johan Georg (1709–1755)

German botanist, natural historian, and geographer who was the first person to note that the Caspian Sea existed at a lower ground level than the Mediterranean Sea. On an expedition to Siberia 1733–41, he described the position of the Yenisey River as a boundary between Europe and Asia and participated in measuring the lowest temperature ever recorded at Yeniseysk. He described his botanical studies in Siberia in his four volume Flora Sibirica .

Born in Tübingen, Germany, Gmelin was the son of an apothecary. He was precocious and extremely gifted as a child. His father encouraged him to use his formidable skills as a scholar to study medicine and he graduated with a medical degree 1727 at the age of 18. He left for St Petersburg, where he became a tutor at the university 1730. After delivering a series of brilliant lectures, he was made a professor of chemistry and natural history 1731. In 1749, he returned to Tübingen to become professor of medicine, botany, and chemistry at the University and died there 1755.