Jean Frederic Stadtmann was born in France in 1762. Shortly after his graduation as a medical Doctor in Strasbourg, he arrived to Isle de France where he settled and got married thereafter in 1790.
Stadtmann had a great passion for Science and Arts. He spent a considerable amount of time studying and illustrating the fauna of the island whilst contributing to flora at Le Jardin du Reduit with the rarest of plant species.
He promoted the knowledge of the colonial plant species to the European botanists who visited Isle de France. Botanist Willemet who arrived at Port Louis in 1789 received a great number of samples and precious documentation from Stadtmann’s personal collection located in Petite Riviere (Chebel), for the Herbarium Mauritianum, published in 1796 in Germany.
In 1811, Louis Marie Aubert du Petit-Thouars acknowledged the invaluable help given by Dr Stadmann for the publication of Mélanges de Botanique et de Voyages.
The Methodical Encyclopaedia: compiled by Lamarck, lists Dr Stadtmann’s remarquable works and contributions. Then nearly extinct plant specie “Bois de Fer” Stadmania oppositifolia, is named after Jean Frederic Stadtmann.
As a medical doctor, Dr Jean Frederic Stadtmann also contributed a lot in the medical field by encouraging the use of the vaccine against smallpox on Isle de France during the late18th century.
He was a founding member of “La Société d’Émulation de l’Ile de France” in 1805 and was appointed President of the Health Commision, established by General Decaen, to overlook the medical and pharmaceutical practices on the colonies of Isle De France and Ile Boubon.
Dr Jean Frederic Stadtmann’s name is inscribed on the Obelisque Lienard in the SSR Botanic Garden.