Andreae, was a Hanoverian natural scientist, chemist, geologist, court pharmacist (Hofapotheker) and alchemist in the Age of Enlightenment.

Internationally noted as a polymath, he was known throughout Europe particularly for his extensive natural history collections and for his pioneering and influential scientific work on soil and their uses for modern agriculture.

He was a correspondent and collaborator of many of the great scientists of the day,[1] such as Benjamin Franklin, Pieter van Musschenbroek and George Shaw.

[4] His father died early and he was raised by his mother, "a very active, intelligent and righteous woman," who arranged for him to receive an extraordinarily good education for his era.

[5] In 1763, he undertook a scientific expedition across Switzerland, to study herbaria, fossil and crystal collections, salt evaporation ponds, hot springs and glaciers.

On behalf of the Prince Elector of Hanover, he studied a great number of types of soil and their uses for agriculture.

He was a friend of many famous contemporaries he had met on his travels—among them Pieter van Musschenbroek, Jean-André Deluc, Benjamin Franklin, George Shaw and Philipp Friedrich Gmelin—and corresponded regularly with them.

Andreae declined memberships of several scientific societies, as he regarded such honours as "learned charlatanry.