Rasmus Bartholin (/bɑːrˈtoʊlɪn, ˈbɑːrtəlɪn/; Latinized: Erasmus Bartholinus; 13 August 1625 – 4 November 1698) was a Danish physician and grammarian.
Rasmus Bartholin | |
|---|---|
 Rasmus Bartholin | |
| Born | 13 August 1625 |
| Died | 4 November 1698 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Known for | Double refraction of a light ray |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
Biography
editBartholin was born in Roskilde. He was the son of Caspar Bartholin the Elder (1585–1629) and Anna Fincke, daughter of the mathematician Thomas Fincke.[1]
As part of his studies, he travelled in Europe for ten years. He stayed in the Netherlands, England, France and Italy. In 1647, he took a Master's degree at the University of Copenhagen. In 1654, he received a Doctoral degree at the University of Padua.
He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen, first in Geometry, later in Medicine. He was also dean of the faculty of medicine, librarian, and rector.[2] He wrote, in Latin, the first grammar of the Danish language, the 1657 De studio lingvæ danicæ.
Rasmus Bartholin is remembered especially for his discovery (1669) of the double refraction of a light ray by Iceland spar (calcite).[3] He published an accurate description of the phenomenon, but since the physical nature of light was poorly understood at the time, he was unable to explain it.[4] It was only after Thomas Young proposed the wave theory of light, c. 1801 that an explanation became possible.
Personal
editHe was a younger brother of Thomas Bartholin (1616–1680).[5]
References
edit- ^ "Fincke, Thomas, 1561-1656". Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ Erasmus Bartholin School of Mathematics and Statistics. University of St Andrews, Scotland
- ^ Erasmus Bartholin, Experimenta crystalli islandici disdiaclastici quibus mira & insolita refractio detegitur (Copenhagen ("Hafniæ"), Denmark: Daniel Paulli, 1669). English translation: Experiments with the double refracting Iceland crystal which led to the discovery of a marvelous and strange refraction, tr. by Werner Brandt. Westtown, Pa., 1959.
- ^ "Erasmus Bartholin | Danish physician and physicist". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- ^ V. Meisen. "Thomas Bartholin". Dansk Biografisk Leksikon Gyldendal. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
External links
edit- "De figura nivis". In Thomas Bartolin, De nivis usu medico observationes variae. Accessit D. Erasmi Bartholini de figura nivis dissertatio, p. PA241, at Google Books. Copenhagen: P. Haubold, 1661
- O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Erasmus Bartholin", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- Bartholin, Erasmus 1625-1698 worldcat.org