Johann David Schoepff,[1][2][3] orSchoepf,[4] orSchöpf, (8 March 1752 – 10 September 1800) was a Germanbotanist,zoologist, andphysician.
He was born inBayreuth and travelled toNew York in 1777 as the chiefsurgeon for theAnsbach regiment ofHessian troops fighting for KingGeorge III of the United Kingdom.
During therevolutionary war Schoepff was stationed inRhode Island. Determined to study the Americas as a scientist once the war ended, he travelled for two years in the United States, BritishEast Florida, and theBahamas.
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He returned to Europe in 1784, where he worked for a time at the United Medical Colleges of Ansbach and Bayreuth. His North American observations are recorded inTravels in the Confederation [1783–1784], which first appeared in English translation in 1911. In 1792, he wroteHistoria testvdinvm iconibvs illvstrata (A Natural History of the Turtles, Illustrated with Engravings), illustrated byFriedrich Wilhelm Wunder.
