http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspar_Bartholin_the_Elder

Caspar Bartholin the Elder (12 February 1585 – 13 July 1629) was born at Malmø, Denmark (modern Sweden) and was a polymath, finally accepting a professorship in medicine at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1613. He later taught theology at the same university.

His precocity was extraordinary; at three years of age he was able to read, and in his thirteenth year he composed Greek and Latin orations and delivered them in public. When he was about eighteen he went to the University of Copenhagen and afterwards studied at Rostock and Wittenberg.

He then travelled through Germany, the Netherlands, England, France and Italy, and was received with marked respect at the different universities he visited. In 1613 he was chosen professor of medicine in the University of Copenhagen, and filled that office for eleven years, when, falling into a dangerous illness, he made a vow that if he should recover he would apply himself solely to the study of divinity. He fulfilled his vow by becoming professor of divinity at Copenhagen and canon of Roskilde. He died on the 13th of July 1629 at Sorø in Zealand.

His work, Anatomicae Institutiones Corporis Humani (1611) was for many years a standard textbook on the subject of anatomy. He was the first to describe the workings of the olfactory nerve.

Of his sons, two, Thomas and Erasmus, were also noted scholars. -------------------- (Jesper Bertelsen)

Levnadsbeskrivning

Kom 3 år gammal till Malmö latinskola, studerade i Köpenhamn 1602, studerade utomlands från 1603 i bl a Rostock, Wittenberg, Halle, Jena, Marburg, Köln, Antwerpen, Leiden, Basel, Padua och Rom. 1610 blev han medecine dr i Basel, 1611 prof eloquentia i Köpenhamn, 1613 professor i medicin, 1624 teol professor och var då rektor för universitetet. Gav ut en mängd böcker i filosofi och naturvetenskap av vilka främst märks "Anathomicae Institutiones Corporis humani". -------------------- Caspar Berthelsen Bartholin, f. 1585, † 1677, en Søn af Bertel Jespersen, der var Sognepræst i Malmø, er Stamfader til den Bartholinske Slægt. Han studerede Lægekunsten og begyndte i Wittenberg sin litteraire Virksomhed, som han fortsatte paa de forskjellige Steder, hvor han paa sin Reise opholdt sig i længere Tid, som i Basel. Paa denne Reise besøgte han bl. A. Rom, hvor han blev bekjendt med den derværende Paves Livsmedico, Johan Fabro, som han assisterede i Udøvelsen af sin Kunst; ligeledes indlagde han sig under sit Ophold i Padua Berømmelse som Læge. Under et senere Ophold i Wittenberg modtog han et Brev fra den daværende Cantsler Christen Friis til Borreby, der meddelte ham hans Udnævnelse til Professor ved Kjøbenhavns Universitet. I denne Stilling udfoldede han en paa hin Tid usædvanlig litterair Virksomhed.