Researching Johann Fischer

Fischer was born in Burglengenfeld, Upper Palatinate. He is a major representative of south German Baroque architects. He studied in Bohemia and combined Bohemian elements with Bavarian Baroque traditions. He often co-operated with the most gifted Bavarian artists of his time, such as Cosmas Damian Asam and Egid Quirin Asam, Johann Joseph Christian, Johann Michael Feuchtmayer, Matthäus Günther, Ignaz Günther, Franz Joseph Spiegler, Johann Baptist Straub, and Johann Baptist Zimmermann.

Fischer died, aged 74, in Munich, and is buried in the Munich Frauenkirche.

He served as an instructor at the Johanneum in Hamburg, and was associated with the city's Naturhistorisches Museum, working extensively with its herpetological and ichthyological collections. He was the binomial author of numerous herpetological species, and has several species named in his honor:*"Fischer's cat snake" (Toxicodryas pulverulenta), 1856.*"Fischer's chameleon" (Kinyongia fischeri), described by Anton Reichenow in 1887. *"Fischer's dwarf gecko" (Lygodactylus fischeri), described by George Albert Boulenger in 1890.*"Fischer’s snail-eating snake" (Tropidodipsas fischeri), described by George Albert Boulenger in 1894.*"Fischer's thick-toed gecko" (Pachydactylus laevigatus), 1888.

In the field of ichthyology, he described the genera Sclerocottus (Cottidae) and Gymnelichthys (Zoarcidae).

He studied medicine at the University of Vienna as a student of Georg Joseph Beer. In 1806 he received his doctorate in medicine, and several years later, was named head of the newly founded eye clinic in Prague (1814). In 1830 he attained the chair of ophthalmology at the University of Prague. Among his better known students was Carl Ferdinand von Arlt.