Anton Von Stoerck

Anton Von Stoerck was born in Saulgau, Upper Swabia on 21 February 1731. His parents died when he was young and he grew up in a poorhouse. After studying under Anton de Haen and Gerard Van Swieten, he received his MD from the University of Vienna in 1757. He then headed several hospitals in Vienna before being promoted to royal court physician in 1760. He became a professor of medicine at Vienna the same year, the dean of the medicine faculty in 1765, and the rector from 1768. In 1772, after the death of Van Swieten, he was appointed the personal physician of Empress Maria Theresa. He is known today for being the father of modern pharmacology, as his studies focused on the use of poisonous plants as medicine and he proposed the system for drug testing. He died in 1803.