Lucas Schroeck (✝︎)

The second child of the physician Lucas Schroeck the Elder and his wife, Anna-Maria Welsch, Lucas Schroeck was born in Augsburg on 20 September 1646. His mother died early in 1652.

On 16 May 1678, Lucas Schroeck married Anna-Catharina Pfanzelt. They had a son on 25 January 1679, who died at the age of barely one year.
Owing to his merits, Lucas Schroeck was made a nobleman in 1687.

He died on 3 November 1730 in his hometown of Augsburg and left his private library encompassing around 2,000 volumes to the city. Today, Schroeck’s library forms part of the Augsburger Staats- und Stadtbibliothek (Augsburg State and City Library).

A street in Augsburg is named after Lucas Schroeck.

Lucas Schroeck studied medicine at the university of Jena and obtained a Lizentiat teaching qualification in this subject in 1669. He then embarked on an educational journey, known as Grand Tour and at the time customary among sons of the upper classes, which took him through Germany and Italy.

Upon his return, Lucas Schroeck continued his studies in Jena and obtained a doctorate with a thesis on musk deer entitled “De Moscho”. He went on to practice medicine in Augsburg and was soon appointed Medicus of the city’s hospitals by the city council.

From 1673, Schroeck oversaw the publication of several editions of “Pharmacopoeia Augustana”, a compilation of approved medicinal products.He outlined rules on how to produce and store the medicines and defined the substances, materials and methods involved in their manufacture.

In August 1677, Schroeck was appointed a member of the Leopoldina, where he soon became actively involved: In 1681, he became a civil servant and from 1685 onwards, he was the editor of the magazine “Ephemeriden” (Ephemerides).

Schroeck was appointed personal physician to the Emperor in 1687. Upon being made a nobleman, he obtained the right of presentation at Court. In 1712, he became the first ever city physician of the city of Augsburg. He served as dean of the city’s Collegium Medicum seven times.

Following the death of the III. President of the Academy, Johann Georg Volckamer, Lucas Schroeck was elected IV. President of the Leopoldina in 1693. He adopted the byname Celsus I. Upon Schroeck taking office, the Leopoldina was relocated from Nuremberg to Augsburg.

Lucas Schroeck is known as one of the most active and purposeful presidents of the Leopoldina’s early years. From the outset, he was dedicated to documenting the academy’s history. In 1694, he took up the chronicle-like Protocollum, which reported on important work and events at the Leopoldina. The Protocollum also reported on gaps in earlier records on the academy’s history prior to his taking office. His work aimed to fill these gaps, making Protocollum – together with lists of students and many letters that had been passed down – one of the most important historical sources on the early years of the Academy.

A historical document on the one hand, Protocollum also stipulated the standards and methodologies of the Academy, some of which are relevant to this day. These standards and methodologies include, in particular, striving to expand knowledge in the natural sciences and medicine for the good of humankind, characterised by academic exchange across borders and disciplines.