Emmanuel Stupanus


Emmanuel Stupanus or Stuppan was a Swiss physician and professor in Basel.

Life and work

Emmanuel Stupanus was born in Basel, Switzerland. He was the son of Johann Nicolaus Stupanus, Professor of Theoretical Medicine at the University of Basel, and his second wife, Katharina Iselin. He was married to Judith Zörnlin; one of his granddaughters, Judith Stupanus, was to become the wife of Jacob Bernoulli.
Stupanus completed his Gymnasium education in 1603. The next year he was sent to Geneva, where he studied philosophy under Esaïe Colladon and Gaspard Laurent. In 1607 he returned to Basel, having first privately defended the Baccalaureus and later publicly the A.L.M. degree. He continued to study Medicine, following the lectures of his father, and Gaspard Bauhin and Felix Plater. After visiting well-known Universities in Germany, France and Italy he was awarded the degree of Medical Doctor under Petrus Ryff, in 1613.
He also took classes in Greek from Jacob Zwinger, philosophy from Heinrich Justus, and rhetoric from Friedrich Castellio.
From 1614, Stupanus he served privately as a substitute for his father, and after 1617 in an official position. He succeeded his father in the Chair of Theoretical Medicine, in 1620. On March 28, 1620 he delivered his Inaugural Lecture De fraudibus Paracelsistarum, in which he expressed his opinion about Paracelsus. He held this position until his death in 1664, and during this time he served twelve times as Dean of the Medical School, and three times as President of the University. Between the two them, Emmanuel Stupanus and his father occupied the Chair of Theoretical Medicine for a total of 72 years.
Emmanuel Stupanus was the doctoral thesis advisor for several students, among them Franciscus Sylvius, in 1637.
Stupanus died on February 26, 1664 in Basel.

Selected works