Samuel Hahnemann is the founder of homoeopathy. This outstanding scholar was born in Meissen, Saxony (now part of Germany), on 10th April 1755, into an impoverished middle-class family during Frederick the Great's Seven Years War. He was taught to read and write by both parents and credits his father with instilling "good and worthy" ideas into his mind. He was taught early by his father never to learn passively but to question everything. Hahnemann pursued his studies vigorously throughout his boyhood and became a gifted linguist, proficient in German, English, French, Italian, Greek, Hebrew, Latin and Arabic. Towards the end of his teens he developed an interest in the sciences and medicine in particular. He eventually trained as a doctor, studying at Leipzig and Vienna before finally qualifying at Erlangen in 1779. In 1782, at the age of 27, Hahnemann married Johanna Henriette Kuchler, the daughter of an apothecary. They ultimately produced a family of 11 children - 9 daughters