Hofmann was born in
Fürstenwalde to mayor of Beeskov and Storkow, David, and his wife Anna née Nößler. After the death of his parents he was taken care by his uncle Georg Nößler (1591–1650) who was a professor of medicine in Altdorf. He too studied medicine and went to Padua where, as a student of
Johann Vesling, he discovered the pancreatic duct in 1641 in a rooster. This was then discovered in humans by
Johann Georg Wirsung after whom it was called the
Ductus Wirsungianus. Hoffmann became an associate professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Altdorf from 1648. The next year he became professor ordinarius, replacing Kaspar Hofmann. He was known for his teaching of anatomy. Hofmann married Anna Margaretha Sampffer in 1649. After her death in 1663 he married Margarete Cämmerer (d. 1704). His son Johann Moritz from his first wife later also became a professor of anatomy at Altdorf. == References ==