Rudolph Goclenius the Younger
German physician
Died when: 48 years 193 days (582 months)Star Sign: Virgo
Rudolph Goclenius the Younger (born Rudolph Göckel; 22 August 1572 – 3 March 1621) was a German physician and professor at Philipps University of Marburg.
Goclenius was born in Wittenberg, the oldest son of Rudolph Goclenius, who was also professor of physics, logic, mathematics and ethics at Marburg.
He enrolled at the University of Marburg at the age of 15.As a student, Goclenius was a respondent to his father in a physical disputation and received his master's degree in 1591.
After obtaining his medical degree in 1601, Goclenius became the first rector of the newly founded gymnasium in Büdingen and a personal physician (archiatrus) to Wolfgang Ernst I, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen.
In 1608, he was appointed to the professorship of physics, astronomy and arithmetic at Marburg University.Afterwards, he took over the chairs of medicine (1611) and mathematics (1612) at the same place.
The younger Goclenius died in Marburg.His father wrote a poem for his funeral on 4 March 1621 As a physician he worked on cures against the plague.
He became famous for his miraculous cure with the "weapon salve" or Powder of Sympathy.Based on the hermetic concepts of Paracelsus he published 1608 the proposition of a "magnetic" cure to heal wounds: the application of the salve on the weapon should heal the wounds afflicted by the weapon.
This concept was brought to England by the alchemist Robert Fludd.A famous proponent was Sir Kenelm Digby.Synchronising the effects of the powder (which apparently caused a noticeable effect on the patient when applied) was actually suggested in the leaflet Curious Enquiries in 1687 as a means of solving the longitude problem.
He is the eponym of the lunar crater Goclenius.Already in 1651, the Jesuits Riccioli/Grimaldi honored him on behalf of his book Urania (1615) on astrology and astronomy.
