Robert Erskine
Robert Erskine ( Russian Роберт Карлович Арескин , German transcription Robert Karlowitsch Areskin ; * 1674 in Alva (Scotland) ; † January 15, 1719 in Olonez , Russia ) was the Scottish personal physician of Peter I , the president of the first medical academy in the Russian Empire .
Erskine studied in Edinburgh and Oxford (dissertation 1700) and met Peter the Great in Paris , who invited him to Russia . He arrived in Russia in 1706 and initially served Alexander Danilowitsch Menshikov as a personal physician and accompanied him on his campaigns. Soon after his arrival, he also became head of the Pharmacy Office, which had a kind of supervisory function in Russia and was the first medical institution in Russia. In 1713 he became the personal physician of the Tsar. In 1716 he was given the specially created post of chief medical officer in Russia (with the rank of State Councilor), began reforms of medicine in Russia, arranged for the establishment of a garden for pharmaceutical purposes in Saint Petersburg (forerunner of the later Botanical Garden) and from 1714 for the establishment of a library and art chamber (which also included a natural history cabinet) for the tsar. He was also a great collector of seashells and minerals and a book lover. His library of 4,200 books became the core of the Academy of Sciences library (which was established after his death in 1724). He was friends with Tsar Peter, who carried one of the candles at his funeral. He died relatively young while taking a cure at the iron-rich mineral springs of Olonez to restore his poor health. He is buried in the Lazarus Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Saint Petersburg.
In 1717 he accompanied the tsar on his journey to Germany, the Netherlands and France.
He also established connections between the Jacobites and the Tsar. His cousin John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar (1675-1732), was the leader of the unsuccessful Jacobite revolt of 1715.
In 1703 he became a member of the Royal Society .
literature
- Robert Collis: The Petrine Instauration. Religion, esotericism and science at the court Peter the Great 1689–1725 , Leiden: Brill 2012
- Wilhelm Michael von Richter : History of Medicin in Russia , 3 volumes, Moscow 1817
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sometimes the year of birth is given as 1677 and the year of death 1718, e.g. B. Collis, see literature
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Erskine, Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Areskin, Robert Karlowitsch; Арескин, Роберт Карлович (Russian spelling) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish doctor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1674 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Alva (Scotland) |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 15, 1719 |
| Place of death | Olonez |