Thomas Bartholin

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Thomas Bartholin

Thomas Bartholin (born October 20, 1616 in Copenhagen , † December 4, 1680 ibid) was a Danish doctor , anatomist and theologian . He is considered the most important anatomist of his time and the discoverer of the lymphatic system .

Life

Thomas Bartholin was the second of six sons of the physician and theologian Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585–1629), who formed an important Danish scientific dynasty in the 17th century: 12 members of the family became professors at Copenhagen University . After the death of his father, his brother-in-law Olaus Wormius (Ole Worm; 1588–1654), also a professor of medicine, took care of him.

In 1634 he began to study theology in Copenhagen. Three years later, with the support of the King and Worms, he undertook a nine-year study tour through Europe, including stays at the universities of Paris , Leiden , Basel , Montpellier and Padua . In 1637 in Leiden he decided to switch to medicine. There he worked as a pupil of Johannes de Wale (also Johannes de Waal or Johannes Walaeus ; 1604–1649) mainly with the lymphatic vessels and the theory of William Harvey's blood circulation . De Wale encouraged him to work on a new, improved edition of the anatomy textbook founded by his father, which was published with the support of de Wale and Franciscus Sylvius . This edition took into account the work of Harvey and Gaspare Aselli for the first time .

Ole Worm recommended that Bartholin focus on anatomy . Bartholin went to Basel and received a doctorate in medicine there in 1645. In 1646 he returned to Copenhagen, became a professor at the Philosophical Faculty and also taught mathematics and philology . In 1649 he married Else Christoffersdatter. One of her children, Caspar Bartholin the Younger , also became a famous anatomist. Another son, Thomas Bartholin the Younger , was an important collector of Icelandic and Danish manuscripts and is considered to be the founder of the science of Scandinavian history. In 1649 Bartholin took over the professorship for anatomy at the medical faculty from Simon Pauli . Several times he was the rector of the university.

Bartholin suffered from tuberculosis but recovered by traveling to Orléans , Montpellier and Padua . He then suffered from severe kidney stone disease , which is why he completed his teaching duties in 1656 with the permission of King Friedrich III. restricted. In 1661 he was elected honorary professor, which then completely freed him from all academic courses, but enabled him to head the medical faculty and teach his relatives from his country estate Hagestedgaard , which he had acquired in 1663 , where he could relax 75 km from Copenhagen equip. In 1670 his entire library was destroyed by fire.

As the most respected physician of his time in Denmark, Bartholin had very good contact with the Danish king and initiated his 1672 decree on the organization of the Danish health care system. In 1673 he introduced the midwifery examination in Copenhagen. In 1675 Bartholin became an assessor at the Supreme Court and for this reason refused a call as professor of anatomy at the University of Padua. Badly ill health, Bartholin sold Hagestedgaard in 1680 and returned to Copenhagen.

Thomas Bartholin died in Copenhagen on December 4, 1680 at the age of 64. In 1731 his family was ennobled.

Services

Antiquitatum veteris puerperii synopsis , 1676

With the permission of the king, Thomas Bartholin carried out dissections on human corpses. In doing so, he discovered the thoracic duct in humans , a lymphatic collecting strain which Jean Pecquet had observed in dogs a few years earlier . During this time, Bartholin researched the lymphatic vessels and their relationship to the blood vessels intensively . Bartholin's most significant discovery is that of the lymphatic system as an independent organ system . He described them in the text " Vasa lymphatica nuper hafniae in animalibus inventa et hepatis exsequiae " (1653). Since the date of discovery was only given as February 28th without the year, Olof Rudbeck (1630–1702) claimed this discovery for himself because he had made it in April 1652. However, it is certain that the year of discovery was 1652 and that Bartholin made this discovery two months before Rudbeck.

In 1673 he founded the first Danish scientific journal, Acta medica et philosophica hafniensia, in Copenhagen . The magazine was not continued after his death. For Thomas Bartholin, the learned correspondence in the form of letters was very important. According to Bartholin, this correspondence ensured the cohesion of the learned republic.

With the Bartholinsgade a street in Copenhagen is named after the family Bartholin. The Bartholin Institute (Bartholin Institutet) is located near this.

Works

  • De Angina Puerorum Campaniae Siciliaeque Epidemica Exercitationes . Paris, 1646.
  • De lacteis thoracicis in homine brutisque nuperrime observatis historia anatomica. Copenhagen: M. Martzan, 1652.
  • Vasa lymphatica nuper Hafniae in animalibus inventa et hepatis exsequiae . Hafniae (Copenhagen), Petrus Hakius, 1653.
  • Vasa lymphatica in homine nuper inventa . Hafniae (Copenhagen), 1654.
  • Thomae Bartholini De unicornu observationes novae. Secunda editione auctiores & emendatiores / edition a Filio Casparo Bartholino . Amstelaedami: apud Henr. Wetstenium, 1678. Digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf
  • Historiarum anatomicarum rariorum [...] centuria I et II . Amstelodami, apud Iohannem Henrici, 1654.
    • ... centuria III et IV . The Hague: Adrian Vlacq, 1657.
    • ... centuria V et VI . Copenhagen: P. Haubold, 1661
  • Historarium anatomicarum rariorum centuria I-VI . Copenhagen, 1654-1661.
  • Anatomia . The Hague: Adrian Vlacq, 1655.
  • Dispensarium hafniense . Copenhagen, 1658.
  • De nivis usu medico observationes variae. Accessit D. Erasmi Bartholini de figura nivis dissertatio. Copenhagen: Typis Matthiase Godichii, sumptibus Petri Haubold, 1661.
  • Cista medica hafniensis . Copenhagen, 1662.
  • De pulmonum substantia et motu . Copenhagen, 1663.
  • De insolitis partus humani viis . Copenhagen, 1664.
  • De medicina danorum domestica . Copenhagen, 1666.
  • De flammula cordis epistola . Copenhagen, 1667.
  • Orationes et dissertationes omnino varii argumenti . Copenhagen, 1668.
  • Carmina varii argumenti . Copenhagen, 1669.
  • De medicis poetis dissertatio . Hafinae, apud D. Paulli, 1669.
  • De bibliothecae incendio . Copenhagen, 1670.
  • De morbis biblicis miscellanea medica . Frankfurt am Main: D. Paullus, 1672.
  • De cruce Christi hypomnemata IV , Wesel: Typis Andreae from Hoogenhuysen, 1673.
  • Acta medica et philosophica . 1673-1680.

literature

Web links

Commons : Thomas Bartholin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of rectors on the University of Copenhagen website
  2. ↑ a b Ralf Bröer: Thomas Bartholin , in: Wolfgang U. Eckart and Christoph Gradmann (eds.): Ärztelexikon. From antiquity to the present , 3rd edition 2006, p. 29. doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-540-29585-3 .
  3. ↑ a b Ralph Bröer: Cross-border scientific discourse in Europe in the early modern period. The learned letter in the 17th century. In: Wolfgang U. Eckart and Robert Jütte (Hrsg.): The European health system. Similarities and differences from a historical perspective. Franz Steiner Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-515-06485-0 , p. 107 f.
personal data
SURNAME Bartholin, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish anatomist
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1616
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen , Denmark
DATE OF DEATH 4th December 1680
Place of death Copenhagen , Denmark