Johann Friedrich Meyer

Johann Friedrich Meyer (24 October 1705 – 2 November 1765) was a Thuringian chemist and pharmacist who ardently supported the phlogiston theory even after the work of Joseph Black was published. He contributed greatly to debates in the chemistry of the time although he was wrong, often reviving obsolete ideas from alchemy.

Biography Meyer was born in Osnabrück, to physician Johann Andreas (1670–1714) and Sophia Margaretha née Gottfried (1683–1742). He wished to study theology but was forced to work at the Hirsch pharmacy in Bramsche belonging to his maternal family. After apprenticing there he went to Leipzig and after periods of unemployment, joined a pharmacy in Nordhausen in 1727. He worked for a while in the pharmacy of the Francke Foundations at Halle and return to his family business in Osnabrück, inheriting its ownership in 1737. He worked there until his death.

Meyer married Anna Sara née Krochmann in 1738 and she died childless in 1759.