Background
Zwinger was the son of the furrier Leonhard Zwinger who had become Basel citizen in 1526. His mother was Christina Herbster, the sister of Johannes Oporinus (Herbster) the famed humanist printer.
physician rector teacher university professor
Zwinger was the son of the furrier Leonhard Zwinger who had become Basel citizen in 1526. His mother was Christina Herbster, the sister of Johannes Oporinus (Herbster) the famed humanist printer.
Zwinger studied at universities in Basel, Lyon, and Paris before taking a doctorate in medicine at the University of Padua with Bassiano Landi, the successor of Johannes Baptista Montanus. In Paris he studied with the iconoclastic philosopher Petrus Ramus.
He made significant contributions to the emerging genres of reference and travel literature. He was the first distinguished representative of a prominent early modern Basel academic family. After Zwinger’s father’s death, Christina married the noted humanist Conrad Lycosthenes (Wolffhart).
At Basel he held successively chairs in Greek (1565), Ethics (1571), and finally theoretical medicine (1580).
While originally hostile to Paracelsus, in his later career he took an interest in Paracelsian medical theory for which he experienced some hostility. He associated with Paracelsians such as Thomas Moffet and Petrus Severinus.
Zwinger was the editor of the early encyclopedia Theatrum Humanae Vitae (editions 1565, 1571, 1586, 1604). Zwinger’s son, Jakob Zwinger, briefly served as his successor as editor of the Theatrum.
His descendant Theodor Zwinger the Younger (1597–1654) was a prominent preacher and theology professor
He joined the faculty of the University of Basel as a member of the consilium facultatis medicae from 1559.