Konrad Gessner (1516-1565), Swiss naturalist. Gessner was born in Zurich, the son of a furrier. After the death of his father, Gessner was able to continue his education due to the kindness of family friends. He studied at several universities across Switzerland and France. He finally settled back at Zurich as professor of physics at the Carolinum. His major work was a vast study on zoology - the Historiae animalium - published in four volumes in 1551-58 with a fifth volume published posthumously in 1587. This comprehensive survey of the animal kingdom is viewed as the starting point for modern zoology. Gessner was the first to describe the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) in Europe, ironically the animal implicated in spreading the plague, of which Gessner died. This engraving comes from Beze's Les vrais pourtraits des hommes illustres publsihed at Geneva in 1581.