Johann Siegmund Popowitsch, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Johann Siegmund Popowitsch

Austrian botanist

Date of Birth: 09-Feb-1705

Place of Birth: Celje, Slovenia

Date of Death: 21-Nov-1774

Profession: university teacher, botanist, philologist

Nationality: Austria

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

Johann Siegmund Valentin Popowitsch (Slovene: Janez Žiga Valentin Popovic; February 9, 1705 – November 21, 1774) was a Styrian philologist and natural scientist.
His advocacy of a standardized Upper German paved the way for Austrian German as a variety of Standard German.Popowitsch was born in Arclin, a village near Celje in Lower Styria.
He studied in Graz from 1715 to 1728, graduating from the Jesuit high school and lyceum.
He continued his education by studying theology, but was not ordained.
Popowitsch was familiar with 15 languages and his research interests included philology, botany, pomology, entomology, geophysics, oceanography, archaeology, history, and numismatics.
He also traveled extensively in German and Italian lands.
He was a professor of German at the University of Vienna from 1753 to 1766.
He died in Perchtoldsdorf.
Popowitsch was characterized by Jernej Kopitar as the "greatest scholar of his time in Austria, a praiseworthy philologist and natural scientist."