Christian Ehrenfried Weigel

Who was Christian Ehrenfried Weigel?

Christian Ehrenfried Weigel was a German scientist and, beginning in 1774, a professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy, Botany, and Mineralogy at the University of Greifswald.

Born in Stralsund, in 1771 he received his degree, having studied under Johann Christian Erxleben in Göttingen. In 1806, Weigel was ennobled and carried from then on a "von" in his name. He became the personal physician of the Swedish royal house two years later. Among other things, Weigel developed a cooling heat exchanger, which was later improved upon by Justus von Liebig and then became to be known as the Liebig condenser. Furthermore, the Genus Weigela is named after him.

In 1792, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.