Oeder was born in
Ansbach to a
Bavarian parish minister and theologian,
Georg Ludwig Oeder (1694–1760). He studied
medicine at the
University of Göttingen under
Albrecht von Haller. He then settled as a doctor of medicine in the city of
Schleswig. The
king called him to
Copenhagen in 1751, on
von Haller's recommendation. The autonomous – and conservative -
University of Copenhagen, reluctant as it was to employ foreign experts, resisted Oeder's appointment in an ordinary chair. Thus, he was appointed
Professor botanices regius (Royal Professor) and soon led the installation of a new
botanic garden. From 1753 he led the publication of a monumental botanical plate work,
Flora Danica, which at first was planned to cover all plants, including
bryophytes,
lichens and
fungi native to crown lands of the
Danish king – Denmark,
Schleswig-Holstein,
Oldenburg-
Delmenhorst and
Norway – with its
North Atlantic dependencies
Iceland, the
Faroe Islands and
Greenland. Oeder visited the mountain regions of Norway up to
Trondheim during the years 1758–1760. Consequently, the first fascicles of
Flora Danica contain many
alpine plant species. Oeder also corresponded with the Norwegian bishop and botanist
Johan Ernst Gunnerus during the time. Oeder also built up a considerable botanical library, mainly through purchase from colleagues abroad. English and American literature was obtained from
Philip Miller of
Chelsea Physic Garden and as many as 1327 volumes were bought from the estate of
Richard Mead in 1754. At the time of Oeder,
botany was amalgamated with
economy at large. Oeder thus was also a member of a number of commissions on
agrarian reforms (e.g. “Landkommissionen” in 1770) and state finances ('Finanskollegiet' in 1771). From the first Danish
census, which was soon destroyed, he extracted data on married couples,
widowers and widows in all parishes of
Zealand,
Amager,
Møn and
Bornholm – these excerpts are now valuable data to
genealogists. Oeder advocated the need for charities for widows. At large, Oeder was a spokesman of social reform and freedom of the rural population. With the fall of
Johann Friedrich Struensee in 1771 and the consequent crisis in state finances and the strengthening of anti-
enlightenment and anti-German conservative circles, Oeder lost his professorship. He was first given the post as
prefect (stiftamtmand) of
Trondhjem stift, but never installed. He then was given a little honorable post as bailiff (
Landvogt) in
Oldenburg, which was then under Danish rule, but to be exchanged to
Holstein-Gottorp in 1773. Two years before his death, he was ennobled by emperor
Joseph II. He died in
Oldenburg and was buried in the churchyard of St. Gertrude's Chapel (
Gertrudenfriedhof). ==Plant taxa named for Oeder==