Samuel Hahnemann—Inventor of Homeopathy

Samuel Hahnemann (1755–1843) was born in Meissen, Germany. He studied medicine in Germany and Austria and received his doctorate in 1779 from the university of Erlangen. He practised as a physician but soon became disenchanted with the medicine of his time, which he felt was neither effective nor safe. Eventually, he stopped practising and lived by translating medical texts. In the course of this work, he came across a remark about the action of Cinchona bark which prompted him to do experiments on himself. These experiments eventually led to the creation of homeopathy. Hahnemann’s new therapy was controversial but soon became a worldwide success. When Hahnemann was about to retire at the age of 75, he was visited by a young woman from Paris. The two were soon married and Hahnemann started a new career in the French metropole, where he died in 1843.