Johann Georg Steigerthal

Johann Georg Steigerthal (2 February 1666,[1] Nienburg - 27 June 1740,[1] Hanover) was a court physician and medical writer.

He was elected a member of the Royal Society of London in 1714, the same year as the elector of Hanover became George I of Great Britain.

[2] In 1723 the President of the Royal Society Hans Sloane sent Steigerthal (then in Bad Pyrmont with George I) to Lemgo to buy Engelbert Kaempfer's east Asian collection - like the rest of Sloane's collection, it later became part of the foundational deposit of the British Museum.

[3] In 1730 Steigerthal discovered a petroleum well in Linden, now a district of Hanover - a street has been named after him there since 1927.

[4] In 1732 Steigerthal carried out one of the first successful vaccination programmes in England[1] and was also appointed to the 'Hofrat' or privy council of Hanover.