23 Facts About Herman Boerhaave

Herman Boerhaave was a Dutch botanist, chemist, Christian humanist, and physician of European fame.

Herman Boerhaave 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.

Herman Boerhaave was the first to isolate the chemical urea from urine.

Herman Boerhaave was the first physician to put thermometer measurements to clinical practice.

Herman Boerhaave's motto was Simplex sigillum veri: 'Simplicity is the sign of the truth'.

The son of a Protestant pastor, in his youth Herman Boerhaave studied for a divinity degree and wanted to become a preacher.

Herman Boerhaave earned his medical doctorate from the University of Harderwijk in 1693, with a dissertation titled De utilitate explorandorum in aegris excrementorum ut signorum.

Herman Boerhaave's reputation was not confined to Europe; a Chinese mandarin sent him a letter addressed to "the illustrious Boerhaave, physician in Europe," and it reached him in due course.

From 1955 to 1961 Herman Boerhaave's image was printed on Dutch 20-guilder banknotes.

Herman Boerhaave had a prodigious influence on the development of medicine and chemistry in Scotland.

British medical schools credit Herman Boerhaave for developing the system of medical education upon which their current institutions are based.

Herman Boerhaave first described Herman Boerhaave syndrome, which involves tearing of the oesophagus, usually a consequence of vigorous vomiting.

Herman Boerhaave was critical of his Dutch contemporary Baruch Spinoza, attacking him in his 1688 dissertation.

Herman Boerhaave devoted himself intensively to the study of the human body.

Herman Boerhaave was strongly influenced by the mechanistic theories of Rene Descartes, and those of the 17th-century astronomer and mathematician Giovanni Borelli, who described animal movements in terms of mechanical motion.

On such premises Herman Boerhaave proposed a hydraulic model of human physiology.

Herman Boerhaave's writings refer to simple machines such as levers and pulleys and similar mechanisms, and he saw the bodily organs and members as being assembled from pipe-like structures.

Herman Boerhaave asserted the importance of a proper balance of fluid pressure, noting that fluids should be able to move around the body freely, without obstacles.

Herman Boerhaave's teaching of his knowledge and philosophy drew many students to the University of Leiden.

Herman Boerhaave emphasised the importance of anatomical research based on practical observation and scientific experiment.

Herman Boerhaave's insights aroused great interest among other critical medical thinkers, not least in Friedrich Hoffmann, who strongly advocated the importance of physico-mechanical principles for the preservation or indeed the restoration of health.

Herman Boerhaave produced a great many textbooks and writings through which the digested brilliance of his lectures at Leiden was circulated widely in Europe.

In place of a servile dependence upon teachings handed down from antiquity, Herman Boerhaave understood the importance of establishing definitive findings through his own investigation, and by the direct application of his own methods of testing.