Johann Gerhard Reinhard Andreae

Johann Gerhard Reinhard Andreae, often known as J.G.R. Andreae or I.G.R. 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, such as Benjamin Franklin, Pieter van Musschenbroek and George Shaw. The genus Andreaea, the type genus of the family Andreaeaceae of mosses, was named in his honour by his friend, the botanist Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart. Andreae was also noted as one of the major benefactors in Hanover in his lifetime.