Johann Gottfried Zinn (1727-1759), a franconian anatomist and botanist made important contribution to the anatomy of the eye during his short life span. In his main book "Descriptio anatomica oculi humani" he gave the first detailed and comprehensive description of the anatomy of the human eye. During his professorship at the university of Göttingen the emphasis of his scientific work was in the field of botany. His memory will be kept by the anatomical terms "zonula ciliaris Zinnii" and the circulus arteriosus sclerae = Zinn-Haller's arterial circle. As a botanist Zinn was honoured by the fact that a flower (Zinnie) was named after him.