Melchior Adam

Adam was born in Grottkau, Nysa, Habsburg Silesia (present-day Grodków, Opole Voivodeship).

He visited the college in Brieg Brzeg, then studied on various academies with financial support of his benefactor Joachim von Berg.

In 1601 he was appointed schoolmaster at the municipal school of Heidelberg, and later became co-rector and professor at the same institution.

His major achievement consists of a collection of literary biographies, which were printed in Stuttgart and Heidelberg in five volumes: German Philosophers (including philologists, poets, mathematicians and physicists), German Theologians, Foreign Theologians, Jurists and Politicians and Medics.

His 1615 Vitae Germanorum philosophorum (Lives of German philosophers) contains one of the earliest biographies of Nicolaus Copernicus.