Hermann Boerhaave
| Herman Boerhaave | |
|---|---|
Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738)
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| Born |
31 December 1668 Voorhout, Dutch Republic |
| Died | 23 September 1738 (aged 69) Leiden, Dutch Republic |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Fields | Physician |
| Institutions | University of Leiden |
| Alma mater | University of Leiden |
| Doctoral advisor | Burchard de Volder |
| Doctoral students | Gerard van Swieten |
| Known for | Founder of clinical teaching |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Boerh. |
Herman Boerhaave (Dutch: [ˈɦɛrmɑn ˈbuːrˌɦaːvə], 31 December 1668 – 23 September 1738) was a Dutch botanist, chemist, Christian humanist, and physician of European fame. He is regarded as the founder of clinical teaching and of the modern academic hospital and is sometimes referred to as "the father of physiology," along with Venetian physician Santorio Santorio (1561–1636). He introduced the quantitative approach into medicine, along with his pupil Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777). He is best known for demonstrating the relation of symptoms to lesions, and he was the first to isolate the chemical urea from urine. He was the first physician to put thermometer measurements to clinical practice. His motto was Simplex sigillum veri: The simple is the sign of the true. He is often hailed as the "Dutch Hippocrates".
Boerhaave was born at Voorhout near Leiden. The son of a Protestant pastor, in his youth Boerhaave studied for a divinity degree and wanted to become a preacher. After the death of his father, however, he was offered a scholarship and he entered the University of Leiden, where he took his degree in philosophy in 1689, with a dissertation De distinctione mentis a corpore (on the difference of the mind from the body). There he attacked the doctrines of Epicurus, Thomas Hobbes and Spinoza. He then turned to the study of medicine, in which he graduated in 1693 at Harderwijk in present-day Gelderland.
In 1701 he was appointed lecturer on the institutes of medicine at Leiden; in his inaugural discourse, De commendando Hippocratis studio, he recommended to his pupils that great physician as their model. In 1709 he became professor of botany and medicine, and in that capacity he did good service, not only to his own university, but also to botanical science, by his improvements and additions to the botanic garden of Leiden, and by the publication of numerous works descriptive of new species of plants.
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