Schäffer, Jacob Christian, 1718-1790

Jacob Christian Schäffer, alternatively Jakob, (31 May 1718 – 5 January 1790) was a German dean, professor of theology, botanist, mycologist, entomologist, ornithologist, and inventor. He was a theologian and teacher at Ratisbon. His work in natural sciences includes writing comprehensive and illustrated volumes on plants, fungi, birds, and insects, proposing new classification systems, and maintaining a museum of curiosities. Schäffer also experimented with electricity, colours, optics, and manufactured prisms and lenses, and invented an early washing machine and other practical devices. In the paper industry, he conducted experiments and published findings on alternate sources for paper production. He made studies of minute organisms without access to advanced microscopes and wrote a book on Daphnia.