Erasmus Bartholin
Erasmus Bartholin (born August 13, 1625 in Roskilde , † November 4, 1698 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish scientist.
Life
Bartholin belonged to an influential family: his father was the polymath Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585–1629), his older brother the anatomist Thomas Bartholin . From 1648 to 1656 he studied medicine, mathematics and physics at various European universities such as Leiden and Padua . From 1656 he was a mathematics professor at the University of Copenhagen . His best known student was Ole Roemer , who also lived with him and in 1681 married his daughter Anne-Marie (1663–1694).
The Bartholin Peak , a mountain in Antarctica is named after him.
Scientific knowledge
In 1657, Bartholin first described the physical characteristics of children with the Bartholin-Pätau syndrome (trisomy 13), which was later named after him, in the medical literature.
He described his most important discovery in his book Experimenta crystalli islandici disdiaclastici quibus mira et insolita refractio detegitur . It was the first experimental publication in Denmark. On a calcite crystal ("double spar") from Iceland , he investigated the crystal shape, physical, especially optical, and chemical properties. An extraordinary ray of light that hit a crystal surface perpendicularly was broken anyway: birefringence of light. In 1678 Christiaan Huygens succeeded in interpreting birefringence for the first time by applying the finite propagation of light according to Roemer. It was only when the polarization of light was understood that the birefringence could be correctly explained.
Works
- Experimenta crystalli islandici disdiaclastici quibus mira et insolita refractio detegitur , Copenhagen 1669, doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-3581 . German translation by Karl Mieleitner: Experiments with the birefringent Icelandic crystal, which leads to the discovery of a wonderful and extraordinary refraction (= Ostwald's classic of exact sciences, vol. 205, 1922).
Web links
- John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson : Erasmus Bartholin. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
- Publications by and about Erasmus Bartholin in VD 17 .
- Erasmus Bartholin in the Galileo Project (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bartholin, Erasmus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish scientist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 13, 1625 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Roskilde |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 4, 1698 |
| Place of death | Copenhagen |