Carl Arnold Kortum was born on July 5, 1745, in Mülheim an der Ruhr. In 1763, Kortum went to the University of Duisberg and studied medicine under Johann Gottfried Leidenfrost and Christian Arend Scherer. He also studied botany and attended theological lectures there. After defending his doctoral disseration on epilepsy in 1766, Kortum settled back in Mülheim at the house of his mother, to practice medicine. Kortum traveled to Berlin in 1767 to attend anatomy courses and lectures on wound medicine and observe difficult operations at the Charité hospital. In 1770, he went to Bochum, living and working there until his death on August 15, 1824. On the fiftieth anniversary of his graduation, the University of Duisberg honored him with an honorary doctorate, and he received the title of court counselor from the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm III. Today Kortum is mainly known for the rhymes he wrote in his freetime, especially his contemporary satire published in 1784, "Leben, Meynungen und Thaten von Hieronymus Jobs..." ("The Life, Opinions, and Deeds of Hieronymus Jobs..."), the so-called "Jobsiade."