Simon Paulli

Simon Paulli (1603 to 1680) was a Danish physician and naturalist, born in Rostock into a family of physicians and theologians. He was schooled at Rostock, Leiden, Paris and Copenhagen, received his medical degree at Wittenberg, practiced in Rostock and Lübeck, and later became professor of anatomy at Finck College and then at the University of Copenhagen, teaching anatomy, surgery and botany. He served as first court physician to Frederick III of Denmark and, with the king's help, was a driving force behind the Domus Anatomica, the first anatomical theatre in Copenhagen. His publications include the botanical work Quadripartitum Botanicum on medicinal plants (1639), the Flora Danica of 1648, and a 1661 treatise against tobacco and tea, later translated into English. The plant genus Paullinia is named in his honor. He died in Copenhagen in 1680.