Jan Swammerdam
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Jan Swammerdam (fødd 12. februar 1637, død 17. februar 1680) var ein nederlandsk vitskapsmann.
Sammerdam var ein av dei fyrste til å ta i bruk mikroskopet og hadde ei viktig rolle i framveksten av biologi som ein vitskapleg disiplin (Cobb, 2002).
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Swammerdam was born in Amsterdam, the son of an apothecary and naturalist. He was destined for the Church, but he preferred the profession of medicine, taking his doctor's degree at Leiden in 1667. Having necessarily to interest himself in human anatomy, he devoted much attention to the preservation and better demonstration of the various structures, and he devised the method of studying the circulatory system by means of injections. He also spent much time in the study of insects, investigating the subject of their metamorphosis, and in this and other ways laying the beginnings of their natural classification. His research on the anatomy of mayflies and bees was also of great importance.
His Algemeene Verhandeling van bloedeloose diertjens (1669) was published as The Natural History of Insects in English translation in 1792. This was the first important work on entomology, and described and classified hundreds of insects, arachnids and worms. His Biblia naturae, sive Historia insectorum in certas classes redacta was published after his death by Herman Boerhaave in 1737-1738. He was also the author of Miraculum naturae, sive Uteri muliebris fabrica.
Swammerdam also played a major role in debunking the balloonist theory, which held that muscles contract because air or fluid flows into them. The first to work with nerve-muscle preparations, Swammerdam caused a frog leg under water to contract, showing that the water level did not rise and thus no air or fluid could be flowing into the leg. His use of and experiments with frog muscle preparations played a key role in the development of our current understanding of nerve-muscle function (Cobb, 2002).
Swammerdam's devotion to science led to his neglect of practice; his father, resenting this, stopped all supplies. Thus Swammerdam experienced a period of considerable privation, which had the most unfortunate consequences to his health, both bodily and mental. In 1675 his father died, leaving him an adequate fortune, but the mischief was irreparable. He became a hypochondriac and mystic, joined the followers of Antoinette Bourignon, and died at Amsterdam.
AS Byatt's novel Possession: A romance contains a poem by the fictional poet, Randolph Henry Ash, entitled Swammerdam after the Dutch scientist.
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- 1637 in science (the year of his birth)
- 1680 in science (the year of his death)
[endre] Bakgrunnsstoff
- Cobb M. 2002. Exorcizing the animal spirits: John Swammerdam on nerve function. Nature Reviews, Volume 3, Pages 395-400.
- Mal:1911
