Giovanni Faber or Johann Faber (1574–1629) was a German papal doctor, botanist and art collector, originally from Bamberg in Bavaria, who lived in Rome from 1598. He was curator of the Vatican botanical garden, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and the Academy's secretary. He acted throughout his career as a political broker between Bavaria and Rome. He was a friend of fellow Accademia dei Lincei member Galileo Galilei, and the German painters...
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Giovanni Faber or Johann Faber (1574–1629) was a German papal doctor, botanist and art collector, originally from Bamberg in Bavaria, who lived in Rome from 1598. He was curator of the Vatican botanical garden, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei and the Academy's secretary. He acted throughout his career as a political broker between Bavaria and Rome. He was a friend of fellow Accademia dei Lincei member Galileo Galilei, and the German painters in Rome, Johann Rottenhammer and Adam Elsheimer. He has also been credited with inventing the name "microscope".
Johann Faber was born the son of Protestant parents in Bamberg in 1574. When he was one year old he was orphaned by an epidemic of the plague. He was raised and educated in the Catholic faith by his cousin Philip Schmidt. He went to the University of Würzburg where he studied medicine and graduated in 1597. In order to deepen his studies he moved to Rome in 1598, where he worked as a doctor in the hospital of Saint Spirito in...
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