Joseph Manes Oesterreicher was born in Ofen (Obuda) in Hungary. J. M. Oesterreicher was the first Jew in Hungary to receive the degree of M.D. in 1781, having been accepted to the medical school of the University of Buda at the intervention of Emperor Joseph II, as Jews were not allowed to attend medical schools at the time. His thesis analyzed the mineral springs of Buda.
Dr. Oesterreicher served as physician in the hospital of Obuda. Subsequently, he became chief physician of Zala county, and by order of the emperor, chief physician of Balatonfuered (Platensee-Baden), in Hungary. Due to his efforts Balatonfuered became a popular spa, where a memorial plaque has since been erected in his honor. Dr. Oesterreicher also created a fundation for soldiers at Balatonfuered. He published a work describing the springs of Balatonfuered, as well as a book (in Hungarian) on the sodium sulfate he found in Hungary.
From 1803 to 1832, Dr. Oesterreicher lived in Vienna, where he practiced as a much sought after physician. In 1810 he invented several chemical processes that enabled the examination of food quality. For this discovery he received a golden case from Emperor Franz, handed to him personally by the emperor, and his discovery of producing artificial sulfate of sodium he was awarded with a gold medal. Dr. Oesterreicher also found a method to produce bicarbonate of soda.
Dr. Oesterreicher was named imperial and royal chamber physician and was permitted to work at the Institute of Medical Technology at Vienna. He died in Vienna in 1832.