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Article: Boerhaave, Herman (1668–1738)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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BOERHAAVE, HERMAN (1668
–
1738)
BOERHAAVE, HERMAN
(1668
–
1738), Dutch professor of medicine, botany, and chemistry. Boerhaave began life as the son of a village minister and ended it as professor at Leiden University and
communis Europae praeceptor
('teacher to all of Europe'). He lost his mother at five and his father at fifteen, which left his stepmother with nine children to care for. Widow and children moved to Leiden, where student lodgers helped pay the bills and Boerhaave pursued his studies of and love for chemistry.
Though Boerhaave hoped to follow his father's career path, local patronage steered him in a different direction. He graduated from Leiden in 1690 with ...