Jacob Christian Schäffer

German inventor, professor, botanist, entomologist and ornithologist (1718–1790).

Jacob Christian Schäffer, alternatively Jakob, (31 May 1718 – 5 January 1790) was a German dean, professor of theology, botanist, mycologist, entomologist, ornithologist, and inventor. He was a theologian and teacher at Ratisbon. His work in natural sciences includes writing comprehensive and illustrated volumes on plants, fungi, birds, and insects, proposing new classification systems, and maintaining a museum of curiosities. Schäffer also experimented with electricity, colours, optics, and manufactured prisms and lenses, and invented an early washing machine and other practical devices. In t