Ralph Bathurst
Ralph Bathurst (* 1620 in Hothorpe , Northamptonshire , † June 14, 1704 in Oxford ) was an English chemist, doctor and clergyman.
Life
Bathurst studied theology at Trinity College, Oxford University with a bachelor's degree in 1638 and was ordained a priest of the Church of England in 1644. Due to the English Civil War, his career prospects in the Church became poor and he turned to medicine and was part of a circle of experimental scientists in Oxford (including John Wilkins , Thomas Willis , Christopher Wren , Robert Boyle ) who later became many of the founders belonged to the Royal Society. He was also a medical community that followed the tradition of William Harvey , but was close to the royalists. In the 1650s he practiced as a doctor in Abingdon (Oxfordshire) and under Daniel Whistler (1619–1684), in the treatment of wounded seamen of the Royal Navy from the First Anglo-Dutch War . After the Restoration, he turned back to a church career. In 1664 he became President of Trinity College in Oxford and initiated new buildings designed by his friend Christopher Wren. 1670 he was also dean of Wells Cathedral and was from 1673 to 1676 Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University.
In his medical dissertation Praelectiones tres de respiratone in Oxford in 1654 (published in 1761) he outlined theories of breathing, which were taken up by John Mayow (1669) and Robert Boyle . According to him, the air contained a nitrate-like nutrient (Pabulum nitrosum), which reached the organs via the lungs and blood. In experiments in closed vessels he found that breathing like combustion is not possible without air. The element of air, which he called saltpeter-like, was identified as oxygen in the 18th century ( Joseph Priestley et al.).
He was one of the doctors at the autopsy of Anne Greene , who had been hanged but was resuscitated when the autopsy began.
In 1663 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society .
He received honorable mention as a scholar in a poem by John Dryden . Bathurst also wrote English and Latin poems.
literature
- Winfried R. Pötsch (lead), Annelore Fischer, Wolfgang Müller: Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989, p. 30
- JM Guy: Leading a double life in 17th-century Oxford: Ralph Bathurst (1620–1704), physician-physiologist and cleric . J. Med. Biogr., 2006, pp. 17-22, PMID 16435028
- Matthew Steggle: Ralph Bathurst , Dictionary of National Biography , 2004
Web links
- Painting by Godfrey Kneller (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ In the Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, 1619 or 1620 is given
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bathurst, Ralph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British chemist, physician and clergyman |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1620 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hothorpe |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 14, 1704 |
| Place of death | Oxford |